Abel Makkonen Tesfaye — known professionally as The Weeknd — was born on February 16, 1990 in Ontario, Canada.
The highly successful singer/songwriter has earned himself four Grammy awards and is among the best-selling artists worldwide.
Tesfaye was born to Ethiopian parents, and his name Abel is therefore pronounced “AH-bel”, as opposed to the “AY-bull” pronunciation heard more commonly in the Western world.
The Weeknd’s parents — along with the large majority of people in Ethiopia — are Ethiopian Orthodox Christian, and so Abel is among one of the many Biblical names used commonly in Ethiopia.
In the Book of Genesis, Abel is the son of Adam and Eve, who was later killed by his older brother Cain out of jealousy.
Abel is sitting comfortably at #215 in the US, familiar but not overdone. In England Abel ranks #178, and in the Netherlands is in the Top 50.
Check out some more gorgeous Ethiopian baby names in this blog.
In case you missed these Names of the Day:
Name of the Day: Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809 in Kentucky. Lincoln served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Born into poverty, Lincoln was self-educated and became a lawyer before entering the political world.
Name of the Day: Eros
Happy Valentine’s Day! There are a plethora of baby names that mean love especially fitting for this day, but today we will be discussing Eros: the Greek god of love and desire. Thanks for reading Nameberry's Name of the Day! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
Abel was a finalist for one of our twins. I was actually FOR it, but my wife like Axel and since I liked axel as well, thats what we went with. (alfred is the other twin). But Abel is a favorite. A lesser known biblical name is a recipe for great.