(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 a medieval personal name brought to England by the Normans, of uncertain origin. It may be the Hebrew personal name Lot ‘covering’, which was relatively popular in northern France, or a reduced form of various names formed with the diminutive suffix -lot (originally a combination of -el + -ot), commonly used with women's names.
English: from Middle English lot(t)e ‘lot’, ‘portion’ (Old English hlot), in the sense of an allotted share of land, hence a status name for someone who held such a plot.
Dutch: metonymic occupational name for a plumber or lead roofer, from lood ‘lead’.
German: from a pet form of Ludwig.
German: topographic name from the dialect word lott ‘mud’, ‘dirt’.