Abel Hovelacque (14 November 1843 – 22 February 1896) was a 19th-century French linguist, anthropologist and politician.

He studied languages with Honoré Chavée and comparative anatomy with Paul Broca.

[1] He was a founder of the École d'anthropologie [fr], in which he was made professor of linguistic ethnography, and of which, after the death of Jules Gavarret, he became director (1890).

He served on the Conseil municipal de Paris [fr] which he presided in 1887–1888.

[1] The rue Abel-Hovelacque [fr] in Paris was named after him as well as two others in Lille and Saint Etienne.