Meaning and history
Ahab is a Hebrew name meaning “uncle,” formed from אָח (ʾaḥ, “brother”) and אָב (ʾav, “father”). It was borne by a king of Israel, husband of Jezebel, in the Old Testament, where Elijah reproached him for his sinful conduct. Herman Melville later used the name for the obsessed sea captain in Moby-Dick (1851), who pursues a white whale.