David (name)

David is a common masculine given name. It is of Hebrew origin, and its popularity derives from King David, a figure of central importance in the Hebrew Bible and in the religious traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

David
King David
Pronunciation/ˈdeɪvɪd/
GenderMale
Origin
Word/nameHebrew
Meaning"Beloved"
Region of originEretz Israel

Etymology

David (Hebrew: דָּוִד‎, Modern: David, Tiberian: Dāwîḏ) means "beloved", derived from the root dôwd (דּוֹד), which originally meant "to boil", but survives in Biblical Hebrew only in the figurative usage "to love"; specifically, it is a term for an uncle or figuratively, a lover/beloved (it is used in this way in the Song of Songs: אני לדודי ודודי לי, "I am for my beloved and my beloved is for me").[1] In Christian tradition, the name was adopted as Syriac: ܕܘܝܕ Dawid, Greek Δαυίδ, Latin Davidus or David. The Quranic spelling is دَاوُۥد Dāwūd or Dā'ūd.

David was adopted as a Christian name from an early period, e.g. David of Wales (6th century), David Saharuni (7th century), David I of Iberia (9th century). Name days are celebrated on 8 February (for David IV of Georgia), 1 March (for St. David of Wales) and 29 December (for King David), as well as 25 June (St. David of Sweden), 26 June, 9 July (Russia), 26 August, 11 December and 30 December (Hungary, Latvia, Norway, Czech Republic).

Hypocorisms

The oldest, most popular and most commonly used diminutive form in the English speaking countries of David is Dav, which first appeared in written form in the 16th century. The nickname Dav or Dave has been used as a name in its own right in the 19th and 20th centuries, at least in the United States. At the height of its popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s, the name Dave was bestowed upon more than 3,000 infants each year.[2]

Other common English-language hypocorisms of the name David are Davey, Davie, and Davy. The Welsh Dafydd is also abbreviated Dewi, Dai and Daf.[3]

In Ashkenazi Jewish culture, common hypocorisms of Dovid are Dovi and Dov. Dudi is a common hypocorism in Modern Hebrew.[4]

Davo is also used as a nickname, and is quite common in Australia and Armenia, while the nickname Dato (for Davit) is popular in the country of Georgia.

Female forms

Some female forms of the name are Daveigh, Davetta, Davida, and Davina. The girl's name Davinia may derive from David, but it has also been considered a derivation from the Gaelic Devin or a variant of Lavinia.

Statistics
  • United Kingdom: David was the most popular masculine given name in Northern Ireland for newborns in 1975 and dropped to a fluctuating rank around 20th in the first few years of the 21st century.[5]
  • United States: David is the fifth most popular masculine name in the United States, belonging to 2,967,000 individuals. [6] It ranked #30 among boys born in 2021. [7]
  • United States: In 2015, the name David was the 18th most popular name for baby boys in the United States.[8]

Variants

Notable people with the name
Main article: List of people named David

See also

References
  1. Strong's Concordance H1730
  2. "Popular Baby Names". ssa.gov.
  3. Although Dai was formerly used as a name in its own right prior to the late 15th century, possibly derived from a Welsh word meaning "shining". The name was very popular in Wales, leading to the situation whereby in England, "Taffy" or "Taff" (imitating the Welsh pronunciation of "Dafydd") became used as a pejorative nickname for Welshmen regardless of their actual name.
  4. Slobin, Dan Isaac (1985). The Crosslinguistic Study of Language Acquisition. ISBN 9780898593679.
  5. "Jack and Emma were the most popular first names in Northern Ireland in 2003" (PDF) (Press release). Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. 2 January 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 September 2006. Retrieved 14 February 2008. (see tables "Comparison with 1975" and "Top 20 Names 2000–2003")
  6. "Name David". January 1, 2020.
  7. "Popularity for the name David". May 7, 2022.
  8. ourbabynamer.com
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