David Stock

(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.

English: probably for the most part a topographic name for someone who lived near the trunk or stump of a large tree, Middle English stocke (Old English stocc). In some cases the reference may be to a primitive foot-bridge over a stream consisting of a felled tree trunk. Some early examples without prepositions may point to a nickname for a stout, stocky man or a metonymic occupational name for a keeper of punishment stocks.