(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: topographic name for someone who lived by a gate or ‘hatch’ (especially one leading into a forest), northern Middle English heck (Old English hæcc), or a habitational name from Great Heck in North Yorkshire, which is named with this word. Compare Hatch.
German: topographic name from Middle High German hecke, hegge ‘hedge’. This name is common in southern Germany and the Rhineland.
Possibly an Americanized spelling of French Hec(q), a topographic name from Old French hec ‘gate’, ‘barrier’, ‘fence’ (compare 1), or a habitational name from a place named with this word.
Shortened form of the Dutch surname van (den) Hecke, a habitational name from any of several places called ten Hekke in the Belgian provinces of East and West Flanders.