(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: 1. habitational name from any of the numerous places named with Old English bearo, bearu ‘grove’ (dative bear(o)we, bearuwe), for example in Cheshire, Derbyshire, Gloucestershire, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Shropshire, Suffolk, and Somerset, or a topographic name with the same meaning. 2. topographic name for someone who lived by an ancient burial mound, Middle English berwe, barwe, or a habitational name from a place named with this word (Old English beorg, dative beorge), of which there is one near Leicester and another in Somerset. 3. habitational name from Barrow in Furness, Cumbria, which is named with an unattested Celtic word, barr, here meaning ‘promontory’, + Old Norse ey ‘island’.
