(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: 1. from a Norman personal name, Bou(r)chart, composed of the Germanic elements bourg ‘fort’ + heard ‘hardy’, ‘brave’, ‘strong’. 2. nickname for someone with a big mouth (possibly in either a literal or figurative sense), from French bouche ‘mouth’ + the pejorative suffix -ard.
FOREBEARS A Bouchard from Picardy is recorded in Sillery or Cap Rouge, Quebec, in 1650, with the secondary surname Dorval. Claude Bouchard (1626–99), known as Le Petite Claude, came from Sarthe, Perche, France, to Quebec city before 1654. A further bearer of the name from Paris was in Quebec city by 1657, and another, from La Rochelle, was in Château Richer by 1662. This is a very common surname in Canada and New England.
