(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.
French (Hébert) and Dutch: assimilated form of Herbert.
German: variant of Heber 1.
Dutch: from the personal name Egbert.
FOREBEARS Louis Hébert (son of Nicolas, apothecary to the Queen, and grocer, and his wife Jacqueline Pajot) was in Acadia in 1606–1607 and again in 1611–1613; he arrived in Quebec city in 1617, and was the father of the first French child born in Quebec. The following secondary surnames are recorded: Lecomte, from Normandy, documented in Quebec city in 1655; Jolicoeur, documented in Montreal in 1653; Laverdure, from Paris, documented in Trois Rivières in 1666; Deslauriers, recorded in 1679; Larose, from Normandy, documented in Voucherville in 1679; and Minfret or Lesperance, from Normandy, recorded in 1701. The LA Hébert families trace their descent from Acadian descendants of Albert and Étienne Hébert who left their native village of La-Haye-Descartes, Touraine, circa 1640.
