(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.
French and English: 1. topographic name for someone who lived in the main market square of a town or village, from Middle English, Old French place (Late Latin platea (via) ‘broad street’, ‘free public open space in a town’). 2. from Middle English, Old French plaise ‘plaice’, ‘flatfish’, hence a metonymic occupational name for a fisherman or a seller of these fish, or perhaps a nickname for someone thought to resemble a flatfish. 3. topographic name for someone who lived near a quickset fence, from Middle English, Old French pleis (Latin plexum, past participle of plectere ‘to plait or weave’).
