David Beaumont

(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 (of Norman origin) and French: habitational name from any of the five places in Normandy or several others elsewhere in France so named. The place name comes from Old French beu, bel ‘fair’, ‘lovely’ + mont ‘hill’. There are also places in England so named under Norman influence (in Cumberland, Lancashire, and Essex, the last of which changed its name in the 12th century from Fulepet ‘foul pit’ to Bealmont ‘beautiful hill’); these may also have given rise to cases of the surname. The surname is now widespread throughout England, but most common in Yorkshire.