Abner (name)

Abner is both a surname and a given name. In the United States, it was moderately popular as a given name, but declined in the first half of the 20th century, rarely being used for newborns after the 1930s. The best known is Abner from the Bible (Book of Samuel), first cousin to Saul and commander-in-chief of his army. Other notable people with the name include:

Given name

• Abnér (died 760), Irish abbot
• Abner of Burgos (c. 1270-c. 1347 or a little later), Jewish philosopher, convert to Christianity and polemical writer against his former religion
• Abner Biberman (1909–1977), American actor, director and screenwriter
• Abner Coburn (1803–1885), 30th Governor of Maine
• Abner Cole (1783–1835), American newspaper editor
• Abner Cook (1814-1884), Texas architect and general contractor
• Abner Cotto (born 1987), Puerto Rican boxer
• Abner Dalrymple (1857-1939), American Major League Baseball player
• Abner Dean (1910–1982), American cartoonist
• Abner Doble (1890–1961), American mechanical engineer who built and sold steam-powered automobiles
• Abner Doubleday (1819-1893), American Civil War Union Army general often erroneously credited with inventing baseball
• Abner C. Harding (1807-1874), member of Congress, U.S. Representative from Illinois and Union Army brigadier general during the American Civil War
• Abner Haynes (born 1937), American former college and American Football League player
• Abner Hazeltine (1793–1879), American politician, U.S. Representative from New York and lawyer
• Abner Jay (1921–1993), American multi-instrument musician
• Abner Jones (1772–1841), minister and early church reformer in the United States
• Abner Kneeland (1774–1844), American radical evangelist and theologian, the last man jailed in the United States for blasphemy
• Abner Lacock (1770–1837), American politician, Senator from Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Militia brigadier general, surveyor and civil engineer
• Abner Lewis (1801-1879), U.S. Representative from New York, judge and attorney
• Abner Smith Lipscomb (1789-1856), Secretary of State for the Republic of Texas, lawyer and judge
• Abner Louima, a victim of police brutality
• Abner Mares (born 1985), Mexican boxer who won several world championship titles
• Abner Reid McClelan (1831-1917), Canadian politician
• Abner J. Mikva (born 1926), American former U.S. Representative from Illinois, White House Counsel, federal judge and law professor
• Abner Nash (1740–1786), second Governor of North Carolina, representative in the Continental Congress and lawyer
• Abner Pākī (c. 1808–1855), Hawaiian chief
• Abner Monroe Perrin (1827-1864), Confederate general in the American Civil War
• Abner Powell (1860-1953), American Major League Baseball player, manager and team owner
• Abner Read (1821–1863), United States Navy officer killed in the American Civil War
• Abner Shimony (born 1928), American physicist and philosopher of science
• Abner W. Sibal (1921-2000), American politician and U.S. Representative from Connecticut
• Abner Silver (1899-1966), American songwriter
• Abner (footballer) (Abner Felipe Souza de Almeida) (born 1996), Brazilian footballer
• Abner Taylor (1829-1903), U.S. Representative from Illinois and businessman
• Abner Wilcox (1808–1869), American missionary teacher in the Kingdom of Hawaii
• Abner Wimberly (1926-1976), American football player
• Abner Zwillman (1904-1959), Jewish-American gangster

Surname

• David Abner, Sr. (1826–1902), American legislator and former slave
• Ewart Abner (1923-1997), American record company executive
• Shawn Abner (born 1966), American former Major League Baseball player
• Seth Abner (born 1995), better known as Scump, American professional Call of Duty player, son of Shawn Abner

Fictional characters

• Abner Brown, the villain of John Masefield's novel The Box of Delights
• Abner Jenkins, Marvel Comics character
• Abner Kravitz, neighbor to central character Samantha Stephens in the 1960s sitcom Bewitched, played by George Tobias.
• Abner Marsh, the protagonist of George R. R. Martin's novel Fevre Dream
• Abner Peabody, a character in the Lum and Abner American radio program (1931–1954)
• Abner Ravenwood, father of Marion Ravenwood
• Abner Yokum, title character of the American comic strip L'il Abner

See also

• Avenir (given name), a related Russian male first name