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.)
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