David Abbott

(male) Biblical name, borne by the greatest of all the kings of Israel, whose history is recounted with great vividness in the first and second books of Samuel and elsewhere. As a boy he killed the giant Philistine Goliath with his slingshot. As king of Judah, and later of all Israel, he expanded the power of the Israelites and established the security of their kingdom. He was also noted as a poet, many of the Psalms being attributed to him. The Hebrew derivation of the name is uncertain; it is said by some to represent a nursery word meaning ‘darling’. It is a very popular Jewish name, but is almost equally common among Gentiles in the English-speaking world. It is particularly common in Wales and Scotland, having been borne by the patron saint of Wales (see Dewi) and by two medieval kings of Scotland.

English and Scottish: from Middle English abbott ‘abbot’ (Old English abbod) or Old French abet ‘priest’. Both the Old English and the Old French term are derived from Late Latin abbas ‘priest’ (genitive abbatis), from Greek abbas, from Aramaic aba ‘father’. This was an occupational name for someone employed in the household of or on the lands of an abbot, and perhaps also a nickname for a sanctimonious person thought to resemble an abbot. In the U.S. this name is also sometimes a translation of a cognate or equivalent European name, e.g. Italian Abate, Spanish Abad, or German Abt.