What is the full name of ABBA?

ABBA stands for Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Anni-Frid. These are the first names of the four Swedish musicians who formed the group: Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad.

The group began performing together in Stockholm in 1972. Before adopting the short name ABBA, they were often billed as “Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid,” a cumbersome name that identified all four performers. The initials provided a compact, memorable replacement.

ABBA is also a palindrome, reading the same forwards and backwards. The name had an additional complication: Abba was already the name of a Swedish fish-canning company. The musicians obtained permission to use it internationally, helping the name become associated with pop music rather than seafood.

The four members were also linked romantically in two couples: Agnetha was married to Björn, while Anni-Frid later married Benny. Their personal relationships and eventual divorces influenced the group’s history, but ABBA’s name always referred to the members’ first-name initials, not an English phrase or invented word.