(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.
Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Ciardha, a midland family name meaning ‘descendant of Ciardha’, a personal name derived from ciar ‘dark’, ‘black’.
Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Fhiachra ‘son of Fiachra’.
English: habitational name from Carey in Devon or Cary in Somerset, named for the rivers on which they stand; both river names probably derive from the Celtic root car- ‘love’, ‘liking’, perhaps with the meaning ‘pleasant stream’.
English (of Norman origin): habitational name from the manor of Carrey, near Lisieux, Normandy, France, of uncertain origin.
Welsh and Cornish: variant of Carew.
Possibly an Americanized form of German Gehrig or Gehring.
