David is a common masculine given name of Hebrew language origin. Its popularity derives from the initial oral tradition (Oral Torah) and recorded use related to King David, a central figure in the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, and foundational to Judaism, and subsequently significant in the religious traditions of Christianity and Islam.
Etymology
David () means , derived from the root dôwd (rtl=yes), which originally meant , but survives in Biblical Hebrew only in the figurative usage ; specifically, it is a term for an
uncle or figuratively, a lover/beloved (it is used in this way in the Song of Songs: rtl=yes, ).
[Strong's Concordance H1730] In Christian tradition, the name was adopted as Dawid,
Biblical Greek Δαυίδ,
Latin Davidus or David. The
spelling is rtl=yes or .
David was adopted as a Christian name from an early period, e.g. Saint David (6th century), David Saharuni (7th century), David I of Iberia (9th century).
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.
Common English-language of the name David are Dave, Dav, Davey, Davie, Davo, Davs, Davis, Daviey, and Davy. The Welsh Dafydd is also abbreviated Dewi, Dai and Daf.[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.]
In Ashkenazi Jewish culture, common hypocorisms of Dovid are Dovi and Dov. Dudi is a common hypocorism in Modern Hebrew.
Surnames
A number of surnames are derived from the name.
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Patronymic surnames:
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Celtic: Davies, McDaid, McDevitt
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Germanic (native): Daveson, Davids, Davidsen, Davidson, Davidsson, Davison, Davson, Dawson
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Slavic and derived: Davidenko, Davidoff, Davidov, Davidović, Davidovici, Davidovich/Davidovitch, Dawidowski, Davidovsky, Dawidowicz, Davidavičius, Davidovičius, Davidovs, Davydau/Davydaw Davydov
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Other languages: Davidyan/Davidian, Davidoglu, Davidopoulos, Davidescu, Davitashvili, Tavitian/Tavityan
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Other: Davey, David, Davide, Davidis, Dawes, Day
Statistics
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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.
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United States: David is the fifth most popular masculine name in the United States, belonging to 2,967,000 individuals.
The website behindthename.com tracks popularity of names over years.
See also
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List of people named David
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Davide
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Dave (given name)
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Davy (given name)
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Kawika
