Abba (given name) explained

See also: Ab (Semitic).

Abba is a form of ab, meaning "father" in many Semitic languages. It is used as a given name, but was also used as a title or honorific for religious scholars or leaders.^[1] (The word abbot has the same root.)

Persons with the given name Abba, or who are known by that title

Jewish/Babylonian/Palestinian religious scholars

• Abba of Acre (3rd century), Jewish religious scholar
• Abba Arika (175–247), Jewish/Babylonian religious scholar
• Abba bar Abba (2nd-3rd century), Jewish/Babylonian religious scholar
• Abba bar Zabdai (3rd century), Jewish/Palestinian religious scholar
• Abba ben Joseph bar Ḥama (270–350), Jewish/Babylonian religious scholar known in the Talmud as Rava
• Abba Mordechai Berman (1919–2005), Polish Jewish rabbi and religious scholar
• Abba Hilkiah (1st century), Jewish Hasidic sage
• Abba Jose ben Hanan (1st century), Jewish sage and tanna
• Abba Mari (13th-14th century), French/Jewish rabbi
• Abba Mari ben Simson Anatoli (c. 1194–1256), a French/Jewish scholar and translator of Arabic texts
• Raba (Rabbah) Bar Jeremiah (Also called "Abba"), a Jewish Talmudist

Horse names of Jimma rulers

• Abba Bok'a (died 1862), a ruler of the Kingdom of Jimma in what is today southwestern Ethiopia
• Abba Gomol, ruler of the Kingdom of Jimma 1862–78; son of Abba Bok'a
• Abba Jifar I (ruled 1830 - c. 1855) and Abba Jifar II (ruled 1878–1932), kings of the Kingdom of Jimma
• Abba Jofir, Ethiopian aristocrat briefly (1932) king of the Kingdom of Jimma
• Abba Magal (c. 1800), Oromo leader, father of Abba Jifar I, founder of the Kingdom of Jimma

Others

• Abba (count), a Frisian count
• Abba Thulle, ibedul of Koror
• Abba Ahimeir (1897–1962), Russian Jewish journalist, historian, and Zionist
• Abba Eban (1915–2002), Israeli diplomat and politician, and President of the Weizmann Institute of Science
• Abba Gerasimus (5th century), Lycian Christian monk and abbot revered as a saint
• Abba Gindin (b. 1946), Finnish/Israeli ice hockey player
• Abba Habib, Nigerian politician
• Abbot "Abbie" Hoffman, whose Hebrew name was Abba
• Abba Hushi (1898–1969), Israeli politician
• Abba Kovner (1918–1987), Lithuanian Jewish/Israeli poet, writer, and partisan leader
• Abba Kyari (1938–2020), Nigerian military officer, governor, and business leader
• Abba P. Lerner (1903–1982), American economist
• Abba Musa Rimi (b. 1940), Nigerian politician, governor of Kaduna State
• Abba Hillel Silver (1893–1963), U.S. Rabbi and Zionist leader
• Abba Goold Woolson (1838–1921), American writer

See also

• Avva

Notes and References

1. Web site: Brand . Ezra . Understanding Honorifics in the Talmudic Era . www.ezrabrand.com . 25 January 2024. . See there that the term "Imma" also functions at times as an honorific in the Talmud, paralleling the male equivalent "Abba". For example, Ima Shalom, who is one of the few women who are named and quoted in the Talmud.