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. (The word abbot has the same root.)
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Persons with the given name Abba, or who are known by that title
Jewish religious personalities
Rabbi Abba (3rd-4th century), religious scholar
Abba of Acre (3rd century), religious scholar
Abba Arika (175–247), Babylonian religious scholar
Abba bar Abba (2nd-3rd century), Babylonian religious scholar
Abba bar Abina (3rd century), Palestinian religious scholar
Abba bar Zabdai (3rd century), Palestinian religious scholar
Abba ben Joseph bar Ḥama (270–350), Babylonian religious scholar known in the Talmud as Rava
Abba Mordechai Berman (1919–2005), Polish rabbi and religious scholar
Abba Hilkiah (1st century), Hasidic sage
Abba Hillel Silver (1893–1963), U.S. Rabbi and Zionist leader
Abba Hoshaya of Turya (3rd century), pious wool-washer
Abba Jose ben Hanan (1st century), sage and tanna
Abba Judan (2nd century), philanthropist
Abba Mari (13th-14th century), French rabbi
Abba Mari ben Simson Anatoli (c. 1194–1256), French scholar and translator of Arabic texts
Abba Yudan (3rd century), Palestinian religious scholar
Raba (Rabbah) Bar Jeremiah (also called "Abba"), Talmudist
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), king of the Kingdom of Jimma
Abba Jifar II (ruled 1878–1932), king 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) (734?–768), Frisian count
Abba Thulle (fl. 1783), ibedul of Koror
Abba Ahimeir (1897–1962), Russian Jewish journalist, historian, and Zionist
Abba Cohen (born 1955/1956), American Orthodox Jewish advocate
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 (fl. 1959), Nigerian politician
Abbot "Abbie" Hoffman (1936–1989), American activist whose Hebrew name was Abba
Abba Hushi (1898–1969), Israeli politician
Abba Kovner (1918–1987), Lithuanian/Israeli Jewish 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 Goold Woolson (1838–1921), American writer