David (name)

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David, Davit
Pronunciation /ˈdeɪvɪd/
Gender Male
Origin
Word/Name Hebrew
Meaning "beloved"
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David is a common male given name. It is also a surname.

The name David is a derivation of an ancient Mesopotamian given name and appears in the Bible as the Biblical Hebrew name דָּוִד (Dāwīḏ  pronunciation: [dɔːˈviːð]; Modern Hebrew: [daˈvid]), meaning "Darling" or "Beloved". Dudi is a common nickname for David in Hebrew, while Dave and Davy are common English nicknames.[1] The Arabic and Assyrian versions of David are Daud (pronounced "Da-ood") and Dāwūd داود (pronounced [dæːˈwuːd, dæˈwuːd]).

Name days are celebrated on 8 February (for David IV of Georgia), 1 March (for St. David of Wales) and 26 December (for King David), as well as 25 June (St. David of Sweden), 26 June, 26 August, 11 December, and 30 December (Hungary, Latvia, Norway).

Variations

David is often shortened to "Davey/Davie/Davy" (additionally, in Wales, such variants as "Dafydd" and "Dewi" and such diminutives as "Dai", "Daf" and "Taff/Taffy" are fairly common, although "Dai" was formerly a name in its own right, meaning "shining" in Welsh, prior to the reign of King Henry VII). The oldest, most popular and most commonly used diminutive form in the English speaking countries of "David" is "Dave", which first appeared in written form in the 16th century (but is probably much older). In Ashkenazi Jewish culture, including outside Israel, it is common to apply the nicknames "Dovi" and "Dov". The nickname "Dave" has been used as a name in its own right in the 19th and 20th centuries, at least in the U.S. 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] "Davo" is also used as a nickname, and is quite common in Armenia and Australia while nickname 'Dato' for 'Davit' is popular in Georgia. A less common variant is "Daveth", the origin of which is uncertain (but could be an anglicised form of the Welsh "Dafydd").

Female equivalents of the name David include "Davida" (no longer in common usage) and "Davina". The girl's name "Davinia" may also have originated from David, though some have argued it is actually the female version of the Gaelic name "Devin".

Statistics

  • 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.[3]
  • Northern Ireland: David was the most popular masculine given name for newborns in 1975 and dropped to a fluctuating rank around 20th in the first few years of the 21st century.[4]

In other languages

דויד or full diacritics: דָּוִד (David)

People with the given name David

Monarchs

  • David, the Biblical King of Israel (c. 1011–971 BC)
  • Edward VIII, whose name in personal use was David
  • Emperors of Ethiopia
    • David I or Dawit I of Ethiopia
    • David II or Dawit II of Ethiopia
    • David III or Dawit III of Ethiopia
  • David (Da'ud), an 11th-century CE ruler of the Seljuk Turks
  • David of Taman, Khazar ruler of the late 10th century CE

Saints

Actors

Biologists

Politicians

  • David Ben-Gurion, first Prime Minister of Israel
  • David Blunkett, British MP
  • David Byrne (politician) (born 1947), Irish and European official
  • David Cameron (born 1966), British Prime Minister
  • Dwight David Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States
  • David Lam, Canada's first Asian-Canadian Lieutenant-Governor
  • David Laws (born 1965), British MP
  • David Lloyd George, Welsh Liberal Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1916–1922
  • David Miliband (born 1965), British MP
  • David Owen (born 1938), UK politician, Labour Foreign Secretary (1977–1979); SDP founder, and leader (1983–1987)
  • David Shaw (UK politician) (born 1950), accountant, British Conservative politician
  • David Steel, (born 1938), UK politician, leader of Liberal Party (1976–1988)

Musicians

Athletes

Authors

Other figures

Fictional characters

People with the surname David

Fiction

See also

References

  1. ↑ The Crosslinguistic Study of Language Acquisition – Page 342 by Dan Isaac Slobin
  2. ↑ U.S. Social Security Administration. "Popular Baby Names."
  3. ↑ pokemyname.com
  4. ↑ "Jack and Emma were the most popular first names in Northern Ireland in 2003" (PDF) (Press release). Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. 2004-01-02. Retrieved 2008-02-14. "(see tables "Comparison with 1975" and "Top 20 Names 2000–2003")" 
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