Dear Abby
Overview
 
Dear Abby is the name of the advice column
Advice column
An advice column is a column in a magazine or newspaper written by an advice columnist . The image presented was originally of an older woman providing comforting advice and maternal wisdom, hence the name "aunt"...

 founded in 1956 by Pauline Phillips
Pauline Phillips
Pauline Phillips is an American advice columnist and radio show host who began the "Dear Abby" column in 1956. Married to Morton Phillips, the couple has two children, a son, Edward Jay Phillips, and a daughter, Jeanne Phillips....

 under the pen name Abigail Van Buren and carried on today by her daughter, Jeanne Phillips
Jeanne Phillips
Jeanne Phillips is an advice columnist who writes the advice column Dear Abby.She is the daughter of Pauline Phillips, who founded "Dear Abby" in 1956, and her husband, Morton Phillips. In a Dear Abby column on December 12, 2000, Pauline introduced Jeanne as co-creator of Dear Abby. They began to...

, who now owns the legal rights to the pen name.

According to Pauline Phillips, she came up with the pen name, Abigail Van Buren, by combining the name of a Biblical figure, Abigail
Abigail
Abigail was the wife of Nabal; she became a wife of David after Nabal's death .In the passage, Nabal demonstrates ingratitude towards David, and Abigail attempts to placate David in order to stop him taking revenge...

 in the Book of Samuel, with the last name of former U.S. President Martin Van Buren
Martin Van Buren
Martin Van Buren was the eighth President of the United States . Before his presidency, he was the eighth Vice President and the tenth Secretary of State, under Andrew Jackson ....

.

The column was syndicated by McNaught Syndicate
McNaught Syndicate
The McNaught Syndicate was an American newspaper syndicate founded in 1922. It was established by Virgil Venice McNitt and Charles V. McAdam. Its best known contents were the columns by Will Rogers and O. O. McIntyre, the Dear Abby letters section and comic strips, including Joe Palooka and...

 from 1956 until 1966, when it moved to Universal Press Syndicate
Universal Press Syndicate
Universal Press Syndicate, a subsidiary of Andrews McMeel Universal, is the world's largest independent press syndicate. It distributes lifestyle and opinion columns, comic strips and other content. Popular columns include Dear Abby, Ann Coulter, Roger Ebert and News of the Weird...

.
 
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