(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: from the Middle English personal name Kynsey, a survival of Old English Cynesige, composed of the elements cyne ‘royal’ + sige ‘victory’.
This name may also have assimilated some cases of Scottish MacKenzie, with the Mac prefix omitted.
Possibly an Americanized spelling of Swiss German Künzi (see Kuenzi).
FOREBEARS The paternal grandfather of NJ and PA legislator John Kinsey (1693–1750) was one of the commissioners sent out from England in 1677 by the West Jersey proprietors to buy land from the Indians and to lay out a town. John was the leader of the Quaker party in the PA assembly and chief justice of the PA supreme court.
