| David | |
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| Pronunciation | "DAY-vid" or "Da-VEED" |
| Gender | Male |
| Meaning | "beloved" |
| Origin | Hebrew |
| Wikipedia articles | All pages beginning with David |
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
- This article is about the English name, for other uses see David (disambiguation).
David is a common English male given name and surname.
The name "David" (generally pronounced "DAY-vid" in modern English, but also pronounced "Da-VEED" in other languages, such as those similar to - or originating from - Latin) is derived from the Biblical Hebrew name דָּוִד (Standard Hebrew: Dávid; Tiberian Hebrew: Dāwiḏ), meaning "Beloved." The name occurs over 1000 times in the Hebrew Bible, making it the third most often-occurring name, after Moses and Abraham. The Arabic and Persian versions are Daud (pronounced " Da-ood") and Dawood (pronounced " Da-wood"), respectively. Both versions are used in Punjabi, Urdu, Bengali and also in Indonesia and Malayasia among Muslim families. The Quran has many references to Daud. The old English and Irish version is Dowd, hence O'Dowd, suggesting an earlier export of Arabic Daud, via Moorish and Black Irish connections, to England and Ireland. Name days are celebrated on March 1 (for St. David of Wales) and December 29 (for King David), as well as June 25 (St. David of Sweden), June 26, August 26, December 11, and December 30 (Norway). 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 of "David" worldwide is "Dave", which first appeared in written form in the sixteenth century (but is probably much older). "Dave" is preferred by many people born "David" to the full name because it is considered more "friendly" and "informal", and also disliked by many other "Davids" on the opinion that it is too "laddish" or "loutish". There have been a handful of occurrences of the name "Dave" being used as a birth name in its own right in the 20th Century, although is very rare. Another less common variant is "Daveth", the origin of which is uncertain (but could be an anglicied form of the Welsh "Dafydd"). Female equivalents of the name David include "Davida" (no longer in common usage) and "Davina", the latter of which is very popular in the United Kingdom and Ireland. 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.'
Contents |
People with the given name David
Monarchs
- David, the Biblical King of Israel (c. 1011–971 BC)
- Edward VIII of Great Britain, whose name in personal use was David
- Princes of Armenia
- Emperors of Ethiopia
- David I or Dawit I of Ethiopia
- David II or Dawit II of Ethiopia
- David III or Dawit III of Ethiopia
- Kings of Georgia, Princes of Tao
- Kings of Scots
- Princes of Wales
Other monarchs
- David (Da'ud), an 11th-century CE ruler of the Seljuk Turks
- David of Taman, Khazar ruler of the late 900s CE
Saints
- Saint David, patron saint of Wales
- Saint David (Sweden)
- Saint David of Muscovy or Gleb, brother of saint Roman of Muscovy or Boris, and son of saint Vladimir
Actors
- David Arquette
- David Boreanaz, American
- David Carradine, American
- David Caruso, American
- Dave Chappelle, American comedian
- David Cross, American
- David Dayan Fisher, American Actor
- David DeLuise, American
- David Duchovny, American actor
- Dave Foley, Canadian actor/Comedian
- David Gasman, American actor and director
- David Hasselhoff (b. 1952), American actor, singer, songwriter
- David Hemmings, British actor
- David Hewlett, English-born Canadian actor
- David Jason, (b. 1940), British actor
- David Kaye, Canadian actor
- David Letterman, American comedian
- David Mitchell, British comedian/writer
- David Moscow, American
- David Nykl, Czech-born Canadian actor
- David Ogden Stiers, American actor and musician
- David Palffy, Canadian actor
- David Schwimmer, American actor
- David Soul. American actor
- David Spade, American comic actor
- David Tennant, Scottish actor
- David Walliams, (b. 1971), British comedy actor
- David Wain, American
- David Wilson, British
Biologists
Government figures, politicians
- David Blunkett
- David Byrne (politician) (b. 1947), Irish and European official
- David Cameron, UK Conservative Party leader
- David, an alias of Joseph Stalin
- Dwight David Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States
- David Miliband
- David Owen (born 1938), UK politician, Labour Foreign Secretary (1977-1979); SDP founder, and leader (1983-1987)
- David Steel, (born 1938), UK politician, leader of Liberal Party (1976-1988)
Music artists
- David Bowie (b. 1947), British rock singer, songwriter, producer
- David Usher (b. 1966), British rock singer-songwriter
- David Gray (b. 1968), British rock singer-songwriter
- David Coverdale (b. 1951) British hard rock vocalist
- David H. Evans (b. 1961), known as The Edge, guitarist in Irish rock band U2
- David Lee Roth (b. 1953), American rock singer-songwriter
- David Draiman (b. 1973), vocalist of the band Disturbed
- Dave Gilmour (b. 1946), British rock singer-songwriter
- Dave Matthews (b. 1967), South African-born singer, guitarist
- Dave Grohl (b. 1969), American drummer with Nirvana, then Foo Fighters
- David Byrne (b. 1952), musician and former Talking Heads frontman
- David Desrosiers, member of Simple Plan
- Dave Mustaine, member of Metallica and Megadeth
- David Ellefson,former member of Megadeth
- David & David, 1980s pop group consisting of two men named David.
- Dave Abbruzzese (b. 1968), American drummer with Pearl Jam
- David Tao, (b. 1969), Taiwanese singer-songwriter
- Davy Jones, formerly of The Monkees
Sports
- Dave Andreychuk, Canadian ice hockey player
- David Bautista, American professional wrestler
- David Beckham, English footballer
- David Belle, French founder of Parkour
- David Bishop (Athlete), British junior athlete
- David Byrne (English footballer) (born 1961), English football player
- David Byrne (South African footballer), (born c. 1961), South African soccer player and coach
- David Coulthard, Scottish Formula One racer
- David Eckstein, baseball player for the St. Louis Cardinals, 2006 World Series MVP
- David Ferrer, Spanish Tennis Player
- David Ginola, French footballer
- David James, English footballer
- David Lighty, American college basketball player for Ohio State University
- David Nalbandian, Argentine Tennis Player
- David Robinson, American former basketball player
- David Ortiz, baseball player for the Boston Red Sox
- David Tsebe, South African marathon runner
- David Wharton, American butterfly and medley swimmer
- David Wright, American baseball player
Writers
- David Brooks, conservative American op-ed columnist for The New York Times
- David Chase, American screenwriter
- David Eggers, American writer, editor, and publisher
- David Frum, conservative Canadian-American political writer
- David Hume, Scottish philosopher
- David Henry Hwang, American playwright
- David Mamet, American playwright
- David Mitchell, British novelist
- David Rakoff, American essayist
- David Sedaris, American essayist
- David Simon, American author, journalist, and TV producer
- David Foster Wallace, American novelist
Others
- David Carson, graphic designer
- David of Sasun, an Armenian folk hero
- David Fincher, film director
- David Frost (broadcaster), (b. 1939), British Broadcaster
- David Gest, American T.V producer. Formerly married to Liza Minnelli
- David Hayter, Screenwriter and voice actor for Solid Snake
- David Lynch, film director
- Dafydd Stephens Professor of Audiological medicine
- David Talbot, founder of Salon.com Internet magazine
- David Wark Griffith, film director
- David Willis, cartoonist
Fictional characters
- David, child-like android played by Haley Joel Osment in the film A.I.
- David, character in Animorphs
- David, character in the anime/manga Blood+
- David, one of the Delightful Children From Down The Lane
- David, real name of soldier "Solid Snake" in the videogame series Metal Gear Solid
- David, one of the human characters on Sesame Street
- David, vampiric antagonist played by Kiefer Sutherland in The Lost Boys (1987)
- David Bowman in the Space Odyssey series
- David Copperfield, title character in the book of the same name by Charles Dickens
- David Durango in the film The Sandlot 2
- David Forrest from Hideo Kojima's adventure game Policenauts
- Davy Jones, legendary pirate portrayed in Pirates of the Caribbean; see also Davy Jones' Locker
- David Levinson, main protagonist played by Jeff Goldblum in the film Independence Day
- David Lister, main character of the British sitcom Red Dwarf
- David Platt, character in Coronation Street
- David Talbot in The Vampire Chronicles, book series by Anne Rice
People with the surname David
- David (actor) (1908-1981), Indian actor
- Albert David (1902-1945), American naval officer
- Félicien David (1810-1876), French composer
- Ferdinand David (musician) (1810–1871), German musician and composer
- Ferenc Dávid (1510-1579), founder of the Unitarian Church in Transylvania
- F.R. David (born 1947), Tunisian-born French singer
- Gerard David (c. 1455-1523), Dutch renaissance painter
- Hérmine David (1886-1970), French painter
- Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825), French neoclassical painter
- Johann Nepomuk David (1895-1977), Austrian composer
- Kornel David (born 1971), Hungarian basketball player
- Larry David (born 1947), American actor and writer
- Peter David (born 1956), American writer
