(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: nickname for a short, fat person, from Middle English bal(le) ‘ball’ (Old English ball, Old Norse bǫllr).
English: topographic name for someone who lived on or by a knoll or rounded hill, from the same Middle English word, bal(le), used in this sense.
English: from the Old Norse personal name Balle, derived either from ballr ‘dangerous’ or bǫllr ‘ball’.
South German: from Middle High German bal ‘ball’, possibly applied as a metonymic occupational name for a juggler, or a habitational name from a place so named in the Rhine area.
Dutch and German: short form of any of various Germanic personal names formed with the element bald (see Bald).
FOREBEARS William Ball (1616–80) emigrated from Suffolk, England, to VA about 1650 and was one of the founders of Millenbeck on the Rappahannock.
