David (name)

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 Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, and foundational to Judaism, and subsequently significant in the religious traditions of Christianity and Islam.

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'). 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.

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

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 fifth most popular masculine name in the United States, belonging to 2,967,000 individuals. It ranked #30 among boys born in 2021.
United States: In 2015, the name David was the 18th most popular name for baby boys in the United States.

Variants

Afrikaans: Dawid
Albanian: Davidi, Dauti, Davud, Dejvid, Xhavit
Amharic: Dawït
Arabic:
- Classical: داود
- Modern: داوود (Dāwūd, Dawoud, Daoud, Dawud, Dawood)
Aramaic: Dāwîḏ
Armenian:
- Classical: Դաւիթ (Dawitʻ)
- Eastern: Դավիթ (Davitʻ)
- Western: Դաւիթ (Tʻavitʻ)
Azerbaijani: Davud, داوود
Bashkir: Дауыт (Dawït)
Basque: Dabid
Bosnian: Davud, Daut, David
Breton: Dewi
Bulgarian: Давид, Давидко
Catalan: David, Daviu
Cornish: Daveth
Croatian: David
Czech: David, Davídek
Danish: David
Dutch: David
English: David
Esperanto: Davido
Estonian: Taavet, Taavi
Faroese: Dávur, Dávid, Dávið, Dávi
Fijian: Tevita
Filipino: David, Davide
Finnish: Daavid, Taavetti, Taavi, Taavo
French: David
Fula: Dauda, Daouda
Galician: David
Ge'ez: Dawit
Georgian: დავით (Davit), დათო (Dato), დათა (Data), დათუჩა (Datucha), დათიკო (Datiko), დათუნა (Datuna)
German: David, Devid (extremely rare)
Greek:
- Biblical: Δαυὶδ, Δαβίδ, Δαυΐδ, Δαυείδ, Δαυίδης
- Modern: Δαβίδ (David)
Gujarati: ડેવિડ (Ḍēviḍa)
Hausa: Dauda, Daouda
Hawaiian: Kawika, Havika, Kāwika
Hebrew: Hebrew spelling without diacritics: דוד‎, (rare) דויד‎ or full diacritics: דָּוִד‎ (David)
- Biblical: (Dawid)
- Tiberian: (Dāwîḏ)
Hindi: दाऊद (Dāūd), डेविड (Ḍēviḍ)
Hlubi: uDafethe
Hungarian: Dávid
Icelandic: Davíð
Indonesian: Daud, David
Inuktitut: ᑖᕕᑦ (Taavit)
Irish: Dáibhídh, Dáibhéad
Italian: Davide
Japanese: デイビッド (Deibiddo), ダビデ (Dabide)
Kalanga: Dafite
Kannada: ಡೇವಿಡ್ (Ḍēviḍ)
Kazakh: Дәуіт (Däuıt)
Kgalagadi: Dafete
Khoekhoe: Dabida
Khmer: ដាវីត (Davit), ដេវីត (Dévit)
Korean: 다윗 (Dawit), 데이비드 (Deibideu)
Latin: David, Davidus
Latvian: Dāvids, Dāvis, Deivids
Lithuanian: Dovydas, Deividas
Lobedu: Davhide
Lozi:Davida
Malay:
- Malaysian: Daud, David
- Manado: Davij, Davi, Dav, Daud
Malayalam: ദാവീദ് (Daveedu)
Macedonian: Давид (David)
Mandarin Chinese:
- Simplified: 戴维 (Dàiwéi), 大卫 (Dàwèi), 大维 (Dàwéi)
- Traditional: 戴維 (Dàiwéi), 大衛 (Dàwèi), 大衞 (Dàwèi), 大維 (Dàwéi)
Mandinka: Dawda, Dauda, Daouda
Manx: Davy
Māori: Rāwiri
Marathi: दावीद (Dāvīda)
Medieval English: Daw, Day
Mi'kmaq: Dabit
Nǀuu: Tapita
Northern Sami: Dávvet
Northern Sotho: Dafida
Norwegian: David
Persian: داوود or داود (Davud)
Polish: Dawid
Portuguese: David
- Brazilian: Davi
Pulana: Dafete
Punjabi: ਦਾਊਦ ਨੂੰ (Dā'ūda nū)
Romanian: David
Russian: Давид (Davíd), Давыд (Davýd), Дэвид (Dévid)
Samoan: Tavita
Scots: Dauvit, Dauid
Scottish Gaelic: Dàibheid, Dàibhidh
Serbian: Давид (David)
Skolt Sami: Daa´ved
Slovak: Dávid, David
Slovenian: David
Ndebele: uDafida
Southern Sotho: Dafida
Spanish: David
Swahili: Daudi
Swazi language: uDavide
Swedish: David
Syriac: ܕܘܝܕ (Dawid, Da'wood)
Tamil: தாவீது (Daveedu)
Telugu: దావీదు (Dáveedu)
Thai: เดวิด (RTGS: Dewit)
Tongan: Tevita
Tsonga: Davhida
Tswana: Dafite
Turkish: Davut, Davud
Ukrainian: Давид (Davyd), Devid
Urdu: داؤد (Dāūd), ڈیوڈ (Ḍēviḍ)
Venda:Dafita
Vietnamese: Đa-vít, Đeton
Welsh: Dafydd, Dewi, Dai, Dewydd, Day
Wolof: Dawda, Dauda, Daouda
Yiddish: דוד (Dóved)
Yoruba: Dafidi, Dawodu, Dauda
Zulu: uDavide
Xhosa: uDavida