DAVID (NAME)

'David' is a common English name for males.

The name "David" (generally pronounced "DAY-vid" in modern English, but also pronounced "Da-VEED" in other languanges, such as those similar to - or originating from - Latin) is derived from the Biblical Hebrew name 'דָּוִד' (Standard Hebrew: Dávid; Tiberian Hebrew: Dāwi), meaning "Beloved." The name occurs over 1000 times in the Hebrew Bible, making it the third most often-occurring name, after Moses and Abraham.
The Arabic and Persian versions are Daud (pronounced " Da-ood") and Dawood (pronounced " Da-wood"), respectively. Both versions are used in Punjabi, Urdu, Bengali and also in Indonesia and Malayasia among Muslim families.
The Quran has many references to Daud. See elsewhere.
The old English and Irish version is Dowd, hence O'Dowd, suggesting an earlier export of Arabic Daud, via Moorish and Black Irish connections, to England and Ireland.
Name days are celebrated on March 1 (for St. David of Wales) and December 29 (for King David), as well as June 25 (St. David of Sweden), June 26, August 26, December 11, and December 30 (Norway).
David is often shortened to "Davey/Davie/Davy (additionally, in Wales, such variants as "Dafydd" and "Dewi" and such diminutives as "Dai", "Daf" and "Taff/Taffy" are fairly common, although "Dai" was formerly a name in its own right, meaning "shining" in Welsh, prior to the reign of King Henry VII). The oldest, most popular and most commonly-used diminutive form of "David" worldwide is "Dave", which first appeared in written form in the sixteenth century (but is probably much older). "Dave" is preferred by many people born "David" to the full name because it is considered more "friendly" and "informal", and also disliked by many other "Davids" on the opinion that it is too "laddish" or "loutish". There have been a handful of occurrences of the name "Dave" being used as a birth name in its own right in the 20th Century, although is very rare.
Another less common variant is "Daveth", the origin of which is uncertain (but could be an anglicied form of the Welsh "Dafydd").
Female equivalents of the name David include "Davida" (no longer in common usage) and "Davina", the latter of which is very popular in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The girl's name "Davinia" may also have originated from David, though some have argued it is actually the female version of the Gaelic name 'Devin.'
David also appears as a surname. For a list of people with this surname, see David (disambiguation).

Contents

People bearing the name

Monarchs

Other monarchs

Saints

Actors

Biologists

Government figures, politicians

Music artists

Sports

Writers

Others

Fictional Characters

External links

People bearing the name

Monarchs

★ 'David, the Biblical King of Israel' (c. 1011–971 BC)

★ Edward VIII of Great Britain, whose name in personal use was David

★ 'Princes of Armenia'

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★ David Saharuni

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★ David Bek

★ 'Emperors of Ethiopia'

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★ David I or Dawit I of Ethiopia

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★ David II or Dawit II of Ethiopia

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★ David III or Dawit III of Ethiopia

★ 'Kings of Georgia', 'Princes of Tao'

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★ David I Kuropalates

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★ David II of Georgia

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★ David III of Tao

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★ David IV of Georgia

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★ David V of Georgia

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★ David VI Narin

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★ David VII Ulu

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★ David VIII of Georgia

★ 'Kings of Scots'

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★ David I of Scotland

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★ David II of Scotland

★ 'Princes of Wales'

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★ Dafydd ap Gruffydd

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★ Dafydd ap Llywelyn

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★ Duke of Windsor formerly Prince of Wales later Edward VIII

Other monarchs

★ David (Da'ud), an 11th-century CE ruler of the Seljuk Turks

★ David of Taman, Khazar ruler of the late 900s CE

Saints

★ Saint David, patron saint of Wales

★ Saint David (Sweden)

★ Saint David of Muscovy or Gleb, brother of saint Roman of Muscovy or Boris, and son of saint Vladimir

★ 'Catholic martyrs of the Cristero War' celebrated on May 25

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★ Saint David Uribe Velasco

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★ Saint David Roldán Lara

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★ Saint David Galván Bermúdez

Actors

★ David Arquette

★ David Boreanaz, American

★ David Carradine, American

★ David Caruso, American

★ David Chappelle, American comedian

★ David Cross, American

★ David Dayan Fisher, American Actor

★ David DeLuise, American

★ David Duchovny, American

★ David Gasman, American, residing in Paris, France

★ David Hasselhoff (b. 1952), American actor, singer, songwriter

★ David Hewlett, English-born Canadian actor

★ David Jason, (b. 1940), British actor

★ David Kaye, Canadian actor

★ David Moscow, American

★ David Nykl, Czech-born Canadian actor

★ David Ogden Stiers, American actor and musician

★ David Palffy, Canadian actor

★ David Schwimmer, American actor

★ David Spade, American

★ David Tennant, Scot

★ David Walliams, (b. 1971), British comedy actor

★ David Wain, American

★ David Wilson, British

Biologists

★ David Attenborough

★ David Bellamy

★ David Suzuki

Government figures, politicians

★ David Blunkett

★ David Byrne (politician) (b. 1947), Irish and European official

★ David Cameron, Conservative Party leader

★ David, an alias of Joseph Stalin

★ Dwight David Eisenhower, 34th president of the United States

Music artists

★ David Bowie (b. 1947), British rock singer, songwriter, producer

★ David Cunard (b. 1939), British-American record producer

★ David Usher (b. 1966), British rock singer-songwriter

★ David Gray (b. 1968), British rock singer-songwriter

★ David Coverdale (b. 1951) British hard rock vocalist

★ David H. Evans (b. 1961), known as The Edge, guitarist in Irish rock band U2

★ David Lee Roth (b. 1953), American rock singer-songwriter

★ David Draiman (b. 1973), Vocalist of the band Disturbed

★ Dave Gilmour (b. 1946), British rock singer-songwriter

★ Dave Matthews (b. 1967), South African-born singer, guitarist

★ Dave Grohl (b. 1969), American drummer with Nirvana, then Foo Fighters

★ David Byrne (b. 1952), musician and former Talking Heads frontman

★ David Desrosiers, member of Simple Plan

★ Dave Mustaine, member of Metallica and Megadeth

★ David Ellefson,former member of Megadeth

★ David & David, 1980s pop group consisting of two men named David.

★ Dave Abbruzzese (b. 1968), American drummer (Pearl Jam)

★ David Tao, (b. 1969), Taiwanese singer-songwriter

★ Davy Jones, formerly of The Monkees

Sports

★ Dave Andreychuk, former Canadian hockey player

★ David Bautista, (born 1969), American Professional Wrestler

★ David Beckham, English footballer, plays for Los Angeles Galaxy formerly of Real Madrid and Manchester United F.C.

★ David Belle, (born 29 April 1973 in Fécamp, France) is the founder of Parkour

★ David Bishop (Athlete), current British Junior Athlete

★ David Byrne (English footballer) (born 1961), English football player

★ David Byrne (South African footballer), (born ''c.''1961), South African soccer player and coach

★ David Coulthard, a Formula One racer.

★ David Eckstein, current baseball player for the St. Louis Cardinals, 2006 World Series MVP

★ David Ferrer, Spanish Tennis Player

★ David Ginola, former French footballer

★ David Nalbandian, Argentine Tennis Player

★ David Ortiz, current baseball player for the Boston Red Sox

★ David Wharton, American butterfly and medley swimmer

★ David Wright, current baseball player for the New York Mets

Writers

★ David Brooks, conservative American op-ed columnist for The New York Times

★ David Chase, American screenwriter

★ David Eggers, American writer, editor, and publisher

★ David Frum, conservative Canadian-American political writer

★ David Hume, Scottish philosopher

★ David Henry Hwang, American playwright

★ David Mamet, American playwright

★ David Mitchell, British novelist

★ David Rakoff, American essayist

★ David Sedaris, American essayist

★ David Simon, American author, journalist, and TV producer

★ David Foster Wallace, American novelist

Others

★ David Carson, graphic designer

★ David of Sasun, an Armenian folk hero

★ David Fincher, film director

★ David Frost (broadcaster), (b. 1939), Bristish Broadcaster

★ David Gest, American T.V producer. Formerly married to Liza Minnelli

★ David Hayter, Screenwriter and voice actor for Solid Snake

★ David Lynch, film director

★ Dafydd Stephens Professor of Audiological medicine

★ David Talbot, founder of Salon.com Internet magazine

★ David Wark Griffith, film director

★ David Willis, cartoonist

Fictional Characters

★ David, a character in ''Animorphs''

★ David, The Lost Boys (1987), a vampiric antagonist played by Kiefer Sutherland

★ David Bowman in The Space Odyssey series

★ David Copperfield, in the book of the same name by Charles Dickens

★ David Talbot, The Vampire Chronicles, a book series by Anne Rice

★ David is one of the Delightful Children From Down The Lane

★ David is the real name the character "Solid Snake" in the videogame series Metal Gear Solid.

★ David is the name of the child-like android played by Haley Joel Osment in the film A.I..

★ David was one of the human characters on ''Sesame Street''.

External links