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
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
.
Etymology
David () 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"). In Christian tradition, the name was adopted as syr, ܕܘܝܕ Dawid,
Greek ,
Latin or . The
Quranic spelling is .
David was adopted as a
Christian name
A Christian name, sometimes referred to as a baptismal name, is a religious personal name given on the occasion of a Christian baptism, though now most often assigned by parents at birth. In English-speaking cultures, a person's Christian name ...
from an early period, e.g.
David of Wales (6th century),
David Saharuni David Saharuni ( hy, Դաւիթ Սահառունի, ''Dawit' Saharuni'') was '' sparapet'', ''curopalates'', '' ishkhan'', and presiding prince of Byzantine-controlled Armenia from 635 to 638.
David was a nakharar from the princely noble House of ...
(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
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
), as well as 25 June (
St. David of Sweden), 26 June, 9 July (
Russia), 26 August, 11 December and 30 December (Hungary,
Latvia
Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
, 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 Davey, Davie, and Davy. The Welsh
Dafydd is also abbreviated
Dewi,
Dai and Daf.
In
Ashkenazi
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...
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
In Roman mythology, Lavinia ( ; ) is the daughter of Latinus and Amata, and the last wife of Aeneas.
Creation
It has been proposed that the character was in part intended to represent Servilia Isaurica, Emperor Augustus's first fiancée.
Stor ...
.
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.
* United States: David is the second most popular masculine name in the United States. 10,905,563 (1 out of 28) Americans are named David. Approximately 92,597 Davids are born each year.
* United States: In 2015, the name David was the 18th most popular name for baby boys in the United States.
[ourbabynamer.com]
Variants
*
Afrikaans:
*
Albanian
Albanian may refer to:
*Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular:
**Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans
**Albanian language
**Albanian culture
**Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...
: , , , ,
*
Amharic
Amharic ( or ; (Amharic: ), ', ) is an Ethiopian Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amharas, and also serves as a lingua franca for all oth ...
:
*
Arabic:
**
Classical:
**
Modern
Modern may refer to:
History
* Modern history
** Early Modern period
** Late Modern period
*** 18th century
*** 19th century
*** 20th century
** Contemporary history
* Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century
Phil ...
: (, , , , )
*
Aramaic:
*
Armenian:
**
Classical: ()
**
Eastern: ()
**
Western: ()
*
Assamese
Assamese may refer to:
* Assamese people, a socio-ethnolinguistic identity of north-eastern India
* People of Assam, multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic and multi-religious people of Assam
* Assamese language, one of the easternmost Indo-Aryan language ...
: (), ()
*
Azerbaijani
Azerbaijani may refer to:
* Something of, or related to Azerbaijan
* Azerbaijanis
* Azerbaijani language
See also
* Azerbaijan (disambiguation)
* Azeri (disambiguation)
* Azerbaijani cuisine
* Culture of Azerbaijan
The culture of Azerbaijan ...
: ,
*
Bashkir: ()
*
Basque:
*
Bosnian: ,
*
Breton
Breton most often refers to:
*anything associated with Brittany, and generally
** Breton people
** Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany
** Breton (horse), a breed
**Ga ...
:
*
Bulgarian
Bulgarian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria
* Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group
* Bulgarian language, a Slavic language
* Bulgarian alphabet
* A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria
* Bul ...
: ,
*
Catalan
Catalan may refer to:
Catalonia
From, or related to Catalonia:
* Catalan language, a Romance language
* Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia
Places
* 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
: ,
*
Cornish:
*
Croatian:
*
Czech: ,
*
Danish
Danish may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark
People
* A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark
* Culture of Denmark
* Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...
:
*
Dutch:
*
Esperanto
Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communi ...
:
*
Estonian
Estonian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe
* Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent
* Estonian language
* Estonian cuisine
* Estonian culture
See also ...
: ,
*
Faroese: , , ,
*
Fijian:
*
Filipino: ,
* Finnish: , , ,
* French:
*
Fula: ,
*
Galician:
*
Ge'ez:
*
Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
: (), (), (), (), (), ()
* German: , (extremely rare)
* Greek:
**
Biblical
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
: , , , ,
**
Modern
Modern may refer to:
History
* Modern history
** Early Modern period
** Late Modern period
*** 18th century
*** 19th century
*** 20th century
** Contemporary history
* Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century
Phil ...
: ()
*
Gujarati
Gujarati may refer to:
* something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India
* Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat
* Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them
* Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub- ...
: ()
*
Hausa: ,
*
Hawaiian: , ,
*
Hebrew:
Hebrew spelling without diacritics: ,
(rare) or
full diacritics: (David)
**
Biblical
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
: (Dawid)
**
Tiberian
Tiberian may refer to:
* Tiberian vocalization, an oral tradition within the Hebrew language
* Tiberian Hebrew, the variety of Hebrew based on Tiberian vocalization
* Tiberias, a city in Lower Galilee, Israel
* Tiberius
Tiberius Julius Caesa ...
: (Dāwîḏ)
*
Hindi: (), ()
* Hungarian:
*
Icelandic:
*
Indonesian
Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to:
* Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia
** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago
** Indonesian ...
:
*
Inuktitut
Inuktitut (; , syllabics ; from , "person" + , "like", "in the manner of"), also Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, is one of the principal Inuit languages of Canada. It is spoken in all areas north of the tree line, including parts of the provinces o ...
: ()
* Irish: ,
* Italian:
* Japanese: (), ()
*
Kannada: ()
*
Khmer: (), ()
*
Korean: ()
*
Latin: ,
*
Latvian: ,
*
Lithuanian
Lithuanian may refer to:
* Lithuanians
* Lithuanian language
* The country of Lithuania
* Grand Duchy of Lithuania
* Culture of Lithuania
* Lithuanian cuisine
* Lithuanian Jews as often called "Lithuanians" (''Lita'im'' or ''Litvaks'') by other Jew ...
: ,
*
Malay
Malay may refer to:
Languages
* Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore
** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century
** Indonesi ...
:
**
Malaysian: ,
**
Manado: , , ,
*
Malayalam: ()
*
Macedonian
Macedonian most often refers to someone or something from or related to Macedonia.
Macedonian(s) may specifically refer to:
People Modern
* Macedonians (ethnic group), a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group primarily associated with North M ...
: ()
*
Mandarin Chinese:
**
Simplified: (), (), ()
**
Traditional
A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...
: (), (), (), ()
*
Mandinka Mandinka, Mandika, Mandinkha, Mandinko, or Mandingo may refer to:
Media
* ''Mandingo'' (novel), a bestselling novel published in 1957
* ''Mandingo'' (film), a 1975 film based on the eponymous 1957 novel
* ''Mandingo (play)'', a play by Jack Kir ...
: , ,
*
Manx
Manx (; formerly sometimes spelled Manks) is an adjective (and derived noun) describing things or people related to the Isle of Man:
* Manx people
**Manx surnames
* Isle of Man
It may also refer to:
Languages
* Manx language, also known as Manx ...
:
*
Māori
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...
:
*
Marathi
Marathi may refer to:
*Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India
*Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people
*Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece
See also
*
* ...
: ()
*
Medieval English: Daw, Day
*
Mi'kmaq:
*
Northern Sami:
*
Northern Sotho: ,
* Norwegian:
*
Persian: or ()
* Polish:
*
Portuguese:
**
Brazilian:
*
Punjabi
Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan
* Punjabi language
* Punjabi people
* Punjabi dialects and languages
Punjabi may also refer to:
* Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...
: ()
*
Romanian
Romanian may refer to:
*anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania
**Romanians, an ethnic group
**Romanian language, a Romance language
***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language
**Romanian cuisine, traditional ...
:
* Russian: (), (), ()
*
Samoan:
*
Scots: ,
*
Scottish Gaelic: ,
*
Serbian
Serbian may refer to:
* someone or something related to Serbia, a country in Southeastern Europe
* someone or something related to the Serbs, a South Slavic people
* Serbian language
* Serbian names
See also
*
*
* Old Serbian (disambiguat ...
: ()
*
Skolt Sami:
*
Slovak: ,
*
Slovenian
Slovene or Slovenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Slovenia, a country in Central Europe
* Slovene language, a South Slavic language mainly spoken in Slovenia
* Slovenes
The Slovenes, also known as Slovenians ( sl, Sloven ...
:
* Spanish:
*
Swahili
Swahili may refer to:
* Swahili language, a Bantu language official in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and widely spoken in the African Great Lakes
* Swahili people, an ethnic group in East Africa
* Swahili culture
Swahili culture is the culture of ...
:
* Swedish:
*
Syriac: (, )
*
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nati ...
: ()
*
Telugu
Telugu may refer to:
* Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India
*Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India
* Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language
** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode
S ...
: ()
* th, เดวิด ()
*
Tongan:
*
Turkish
Turkish may refer to:
*a Turkic language spoken by the Turks
* of or about Turkey
** Turkish language
*** Turkish alphabet
** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
*** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey
*** Turkish communities and mi ...
: ,
*
Ukrainian
Ukrainian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Ukraine
* Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe
* Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine
* So ...
: (Davyd), Devid
*
Urdu: (), ()
*
Vietnamese: ,
* Welsh: , , , ,
*
Wolof
Wolof or Wollof may refer to:
* Wolof people, an ethnic group found in Senegal, Gambia, and Mauritania
* Wolof language, a language spoken in Senegal, Gambia, and Mauritania
* The Wolof or Jolof Empire, a medieval West African successor of the Mal ...
: , ,
*
Yiddish
Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...
: ()
*
Yoruba
The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute ...
: , ,
*
Zulu:
Notable people with the name
See also
*
*
*
David (surname) The surname David or Dávid may refer to:
* Dávid family, a Hungarian noble family, based in present-day Slovakia
* Albert David (1902–1945), American naval officer
* Alki David (born 1968), Greek businessman and actor
* Anna David (journalist) ...
*
Davide
*
Dave (given name)
Dave is a given name, a shortened form of the name David, Davey, etc. The name means "beloved".
Notable people with the name include:
People
* Dave Bailey (musician), professional name of American jazz drummer Samuel David Bailey
* Dave Bailey ...
*
Davy (given name)
Davy is a male given name in its own right, as well as a short form (hypocorism) of the name David (name), David. Davy may refer to:
People
*Davy Armstrong (born 1991), American soccer player
*Davy Arnaud (born 1980), American soccer player
*Davy ...
*
Davis (surname)
*
Davies
*
Kawika
Kawika is a Hawaiian name meaning "David".
Notable people with the name include:
* Kawika Crowley (born 1952), Japanese-American politician
* Kawika Kapahulehua (1930–2007), Hawaiian sailor
* Kawika Mitchell (born 1979), American football pla ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:David
English masculine given names
French masculine given names
Romanian masculine given names
Bulgarian masculine given names
Hebrew-language names
Masculine given names
German masculine given names
Spanish masculine given names
Swedish masculine given names
Danish masculine given names
Russian masculine given names
Serbian masculine given names
Slovene masculine given names
Czech masculine given names
Dutch masculine given names
Georgian masculine given names
Montenegrin masculine given names
Modern names of Hebrew origin
Given names of Hebrew language origin
fr:David
hu:Dávid
fi:Taavetti (nimi)