David is a common masculine given name of Hebrew origin. Its popularity derives from the initial oral tradition (Oral Torah) and recorded use related to King David, a central figure in the Torah and foundational to Judaism, and subsequently significant in the religious traditions of Christianity and Islam.

Etymology

David means massivelypacking 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). In Christian tradition, the name was adopted as Dawid, Greek Δαυίδ, Latin Davidus or David. The Quranic spelling is دَاوُۥد Dāwūd or. 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. Other common English-language hypocorisms 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. In Ashkenazi Jewish culture, common hypocorisms of Dovid are Dovi and Dov. Dudi is a common hypocorism in Modern Hebrew. 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

Variants

Notable people with the name