David · Daily fortune

David is a masculine name of Hebrew origin. It comes from דָּוִד (Dawid), derived from דּוֹד (dod), which means "beloved" or "uncle"; Wikipedia adds that the root originally meant "to boil" and survives in Biblical Hebrew only in the figurative sense "to love". David was the second and greatest of the kings of Israel in the 10th century BC, the slayer of Goliath, and, according to the New Testament, an ancestor of Jesus. The name has been used in Britain since the Middle Ages, especially in Wales for the 5th-century patron saint and in Scotland for two kings. In the United States it ranked #35 for boys in 2025 and has never left the top 30 over the last century, according to Behind the Name.

Behind the Name derives David from the Hebrew name דָּוִד (Dawiḏ), "which was derived from דּוֹד (doḏ) meaning 'beloved' or 'uncle'". Wikipedia gives the same root, noting that dod "originally meant 'to boil', but survives in Biblical Hebrew only in the figurative usage 'to love'", that it can refer to an uncle or to a lover/beloved, and that it appears in that sense in the Song of Songs 6:3. Wikipedia also records the later Christian forms — Syriac Dawid, Greek Δαυίδ, Latin Davidus or David — and the Quranic spelling دَاوُۥد (Dāwūd or Dāʾūd). The sources agree on the root and the gloss "beloved"; the "uncle" sense is a second meaning of the same Hebrew word, not a competing origin.

David was the second and greatest of the kings of Israel, ruling in the 10th century BC. The Old Testament tells several stories about him, including his defeat of the Philistine giant Goliath, and the New Testament traces Jesus's descent from him; Wikipedia describes him as a central figure in the Tanakh, foundational to Judaism and significant in Christianity and Islam alike. The name was adopted as a Christian name from an early period: Wikipedia cites Saint David of Wales (6th century), David Saharuni (7th century) and David I of Iberia (9th century), and lists name days across Europe, among them 1 March for Saint David of Wales, 8 February for David IV of Georgia and 29 December for King David. In Britain the name has been used since the Middle Ages, and Behind the Name notes it was especially popular in Wales, in honour of the patron saint (also called Dewi), and in Scotland, where two kings bore it. Over the last century it has been one of the English-speaking world's most consistently popular names: never out of the US top 30, at the top rank in England and Wales during the 1950s and 60s, the most popular boys' name in Northern Ireland in 1975, and the most popular boys' name in Spain during the 1970s and 80s. Behind the Name's famous bearers include the philosopher David Hume, the explorer David Livingstone, the musician David Bowie and the footballer David Beckham, and the name belongs to the hero of Charles Dickens's semi-autobiographical novel David Copperfield (1850).

David ranked #35 for boys in the United States in 2025 (Social Security Administration). Behind the Name states that over the last century it has never left the top 30 names for boys in the United States, reached the top rank in England and Wales during the 1950s and 60s, and was the most popular boys' name in Spain during the 1970s and 80s. Wikipedia adds that David was the most popular masculine name for newborns in Northern Ireland in 1975 before dropping to a fluctuating rank around 20th in the early 21st century, and that as of 1 January 2020 it was the fifth most common masculine name in the United States overall, borne by about 2,967,000 people. The 2025 rank of #35 is the first time in the sources consulted that the name appears outside the top 30; a reviewer should confirm the year it slipped.

English David is /ˈdɛɪ.vɪd/, DAY-vid, with the stress on the first syllable. Most European languages keep the same spelling but say it with a short first vowel, roughly DAH-vid or da-VEED, and many languages have their own form built on the same Hebrew root. The IPA below is what Behind the Name lists; where it gave only a form, this pass says so rather than guessing.

David is the kind of name that never needs explaining: everyone can spell it, every language in Europe has a form of it, and its story is one of the best-known in the Bible. That universality is also why it can feel like a default choice. Its short forms carry the generational colour — Dave and Davy read as mid-century, Davey as boyish, while the Welsh Dai and Dewi feel specific and rooted. Parents drawn to it usually compare it with other one-word biblical classics such as Daniel, Michael, Joseph and Samuel.

David's namesakes include a biblical king, several saints and rulers, and a run of modern philosophers, explorers and entertainers. The bearers below are the ones named in the Behind the Name and Wikipedia entries consulted for this profile.

Names that share David's biblical-royal register, its Hebrew origin, or its sound.