David Thurman

(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 (East Midlands): from the Middle English personal name Thurmond, Old Norse þormundr, composed of the elements þórr, name of the Norse god of thunder (see Thor) + mundr ‘protection’. Reaney and Wilson suggest that, Thurmond having been an uncommon personal name, this surname may also represent the commoner name Thurmod, Thormod with the second element derived from Old Norse móþr ‘mind’, ‘courage’, but assimilated to -mund (a common second element in other compound names).