Abram
Meaning
“'high father'; the patriarch's original name, changed to Abraham in Genesis 17:5”
The story
Abram means "high father" in Hebrew, from av, "father", and rum, "to exalt, to be high", and it is the original name of the patriarch: in Genesis 17:5, God changes Abram's name to Abraham. The American record kept the older form quietly alive for a full century, a few hundred boys a decade from the 1890s onward, before it moved: about 930 in the 1970s, about 1,450 in the 1980s, about 3,600 in the 2000s, and then about 7,250 in the 2010s, a full century into its own record, with about 2,520 so far this decade. The verse records the change of name without a date; the ledger says the original held its ground the whole way and has never stopped being written.
Abram around the world
One shared root links 4 names across 3 languages.
Shared root: from Hebrew Avraham, glossed in Genesis as "father of a multitude"; Abram is the patriarch's earlier name from the same story
The constellation
More branches
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Abram peaked in the 2010s.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
89 people · the #44,732 first name in Brazil · median age 41
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Abram
Most people given the name Abram in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Abram deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Abram truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Abram fits with your family’s names and surname.
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