(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.
Short form: Dave.
Pet forms: Davy, Davey, Davie (mainly Scottish); Dai.
Cognates: Irish: Dáibhídh. Scottish Gaelic: Dàibhidh. Welsh: Dafydd, Dewi. German, Dutch: David. French: David. Spanish: David. Italian: Davide. Russian: David. Polish: Dawid. Czech: David. Finnish: Taavi. Hungarian: Dávid.
English and French: metonymic occupational name for a preparer and seller of cured pork, from Middle English, Old French bacun, bacon ‘bacon’ (a word of Germanic origin, akin to Back 1).
English and French: from the Germanic personal name Bac(c)o, Bahho, from the root bag- ‘to fight’. The name was relatively common among the Normans in the form Bacus, of which the oblique case was Bacon.
FOREBEARS An immigrant from Normandy, France, called Bacon or Bascon was documented in Quebec city in 1647.A Michael Bacon from England arrived in Dedham, MA, in 1640. Nathaniel Bacon (1647–76) from Friston Hall, Suffolk, emigrated to VA and settled at Curl's Neck on the James river. Another Nathanial Bacon, from Stratton, Cornwall, arrived at Barnstaple, MA, in 1639.
