David Niemi

(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.

Finnish: from niemi ‘peninsula’, ‘headland’, originally a habitational name from a farm so named for its situation. In the late 19th century it was a popular ornamental adoption, so much so that people then began to change it for a less common name. It occurs chiefly in western Finland. In America, it is also found as an abbreviation of other surnames containing this element, such as Rajaniemi, Sotaniemi, and Syrj(a:)niemi.