(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.
Scottish and English: habitational name from any of various places in southwestern Scotland and northern England that are named with Old Norse kross ‘cross’ + býr ‘farm’, ‘settlement’.
Irish: Scottish and English surname (see 1 above) adopted by bearers of Gaelic Mac an Chrosáin (see McCrossen).
FOREBEARS The name of the Irish family of Crosbie is ultimately derived from providing the chief bards to the O'Mores, Chiefs of Leix (crosán means ‘bard’, ‘satirist’). Pádraic Mac Crosáin or Mac An Chrosáin took the name Patrick Crosbie in about 1583.