Abigail Van Buren is a pseudonym or pen name used by the writers of the Dear Abby column, Pauline Phillips and Jeanne Phillips.
When Pauline Esther Friedman Phillips founded the column in 1956, she took on the pen name of Abigail Van Buren; she and her daughter Jeanne have used the name ever since. According to Pauline, she combined the name of the biblical character Abigail, mentioned in the Book of Samuel, with the last name of former U.S. President Martin Van Buren, to form her pseudonym. When Pauline retired in 2002, her daughter Jeanne continued writing under the pseudonym of Abigail Van Buren.
