(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.
Northern English: patronymic from the medieval personal name Hutchin, a pet form of Hugh.
FOREBEARS Anne Marbury Hutchinson (1591–1643) and her husband William came from Lincolnshire, England, to MA in 1634. A religious dissident, she led the first attack on the Puritans and was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. She moved to RI in 1638, and, after her husband's death in 1642, settled in NY, where the Hutchinson River was named in her honor. Ironically, the Hutchinson name stayed on in MA and one of her descendants, Thomas Hutchinson (1711–80), was royal governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony.