Abba = Daddy?

This was brought up in my New Testament class today. I came from a church which teaches that the word "Abba" in the Bible means "Daddy". My New Testament professor doesn't seem to think so. He says it simply means "Father". Looking online, there seems to be some debate as to if "Abba" does mean "Daddy", or if it's just a myth perpetuated in evangelical circles. It seems that Jewish children nowadays do use it in that sense, but that doesn't necessarily mean that that's the way it was used back then, or the way that Jesus used it. I need to do some further research on this.

Nevertheless, whether or not "Abba" does mean "Daddy", I think the fact remains that it is significant we can call God our father. We can still have that intimacy with him while also having a reverence for him, one that may be lacking in the English term "Daddy".