David Name Meaning, Origin, Popularity, Boy Names Like David

David Name Origin: Hebrew
Pronunciation: day-vid
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David Name Meaning

From the origin dod, David is a religious powerhouse of a name meaning “beloved” or “beloved uncle.” His use spans millennia and he continues to be a popular choice today.

David is a chameleon of a name, effortlessly crossing cultural boundaries and working well in other languages. He’s been featured in works of art and literature alike, as well as bestowed upon kings, actors, authors, and more.

A biblical name, many are familiar with the story of David and Goliath, the first true underdog story of a boy winning a battle against a literal giant. He would later go on to lead as the king of Israel. There have been several Saint Davids too in the Catholic Church. He’s also a strong figure in Judaism, prominently featured in the name of their holy symbol, the Star of David.

David ages well and remains a strong choice for a boy name. While he is ancient in origin, he’s avoided feeling dated, remaining a classic option for parents.

David has the tried and true nickname as Dave as well as the more youthful Davey. He also has variants in Davi and Daveth around the world. Female versions of the name include Davina, Davinia, and Davida.

David Name Popularity

How popular is the name David? Here’s everything we know.

Year	Rank	# Births	% Births
1910	30	1,243	0.353%
1911	27	1,535	0.4122%
1912	29	2,851	0.5653%
1913	29	3,278	0.5782%
1914	29	4,251	0.61%
1915	31	5,393	0.5936%
1916	28	5,808	0.6012%
1917	28	6,100	0.6097%
1918	28	6,626	0.6174%
1919	27	6,714	0.6412%
1920	25	7,445	0.6696%
1921	25	7,765	0.6781%
1922	24	7,861	0.7056%
1923	24	8,233	0.7351%
1924	24	8,754	0.7538%
1925	22	8,917	0.7889%
1926	22	9,036	0.8215%
1927	21	9,424	0.8514%
1928	19	9,998	0.9344%
1929	17	11,300	1.0909%
1930	15	12,272	1.1748%
1931	13	11,778	1.1933%
1932	12	12,138	1.2286%
1933	13	12,021	1.2903%
1934	12	13,999	1.4481%
1935	11	15,662	1.6117%
1936	10	17,478	1.8144%
1937	8	20,973	2.1284%
1938	8	22,992	2.2459%
1939	7	25,361	2.4932%
1940	7	27,684	2.6046%
1941	7	30,552	2.7145%
1942	6	35,891	2.8423%
1943	6	37,236	2.8523%
1944	6	37,377	3.0158%
1945	6	37,094	3.0416%
1946	6	46,437	3.1471%
1947	6	57,804	3.4629%
1948	5	56,616	3.5466%
1949	6	59,602	3.7051%
1950	5	60,730	3.7718%
1951	5	64,801	3.822%
1952	5	71,778	4.112%
1953	5	76,096	4.2996%
1954	5	79,532	4.3507%
1955	2	86,251	4.6891%
1956	4	81,596	4.3202%
1957	3	82,358	4.2799%
1958	2	82,584	4.3697%
1959	2	83,926	4.4173%
1960	1	85,928	4.5351%
1961	2	84,762	4.4897%
1962	2	81,320	4.4295%
1963	3	78,474	4.3717%
1964	3	75,056	4.264%
1965	3	67,861	4.1497%
1966	2	66,419	4.254%
1967	2	66,808	4.4023%
1968	2	63,725	4.2439%
1969	2	63,703	4.135%
1970	3	61,753	3.8804%
1971	3	53,121	3.5351%
1972	4	46,371	3.4046%
1973	5	41,106	3.1707%
1974	4	41,811	3.2169%
1975	5	39,172	3.0484%
1976	4	39,299	3.0492%
1977	4	40,541	3.0076%
1978	4	40,704	3.0276%
1979	4	42,077	2.9841%
1980	4	41,923	2.8672%
1981	5	40,659	2.766%
1982	5	40,451	2.7069%
1983	4	39,201	2.6565%
1984	5	38,481	2.5868%
1985	6	38,513	2.5374%
1986	5	37,139	2.4604%
1987	5	36,781	2.4103%
1988	6	35,313	2.266%
1989	5	35,216	2.1823%
1990	6	33,742	2.0358%
1991	8	30,415	1.866%
1992	10	28,409	1.7798%
1993	11	27,026	1.7335%
1994	13	24,868	1.6204%
1995	16	23,034	1.5283%
1996	13	23,013	1.537%
1997	14	21,882	1.4795%
1998	13	20,881	1.3951%
1999	16	20,331	1.3576%
2000	16	19,767	1.294%
2001	12	19,342	1.2837%
2002	13	18,671	1.2459%
2003	14	18,612	1.2234%
2004	14	18,385	1.2062%
2005	13	18,114	1.1847%
2006	13	17,627	1.1257%
2007	12	17,537	1.1115%
2008	14	16,318	1.0558%
2009	14	15,433	1.0326%
2010	15	14,196	0.9851%
2011	18	13,222	0.928%
2012	20	12,530	0.8793%
2013	18	12,348	0.8673%
2014	18	12,195	0.837%
2015	18	11,781	0.8097%
2016	19	11,089	0.7691%
2017	23	10,124	0.7254%
2018	22	9,697	0.7058%
2019	27	8,896	0.6571%
2020	28	8,067	0.6338%
2021	30	7,843	0.6416%
2022	29	7,676	0.5818%

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Data via SSA.gov.

Names Like David

If you like David, you’ll love these other names like David.

What names are diminutives of David?

A diminutive is a name that’s like David sounds, you might also like these names that sound like David, but shorter.

Name	Meaning	Origin
Daffy	Beloved	Hebrew
Dai	Large; to shine	Welsh
Dave	Beloved; son of David	Hebrew
Daveigh	Diminutive form of David	American
Davey	Beloved	Hebrew
Davi	Beloved	Hebrew
Davie	Beloved	Hebrew
Davy	Beloved; son of David	Hebrew

What names are variants of David?

Mix it up with these names that are a variation of the name David.

Name	Meaning	Origin
Daffyd	Beloved	Hebrew
Dafydd	Beloved	Hebrew
Daven	Beloved	Hebrew
Daveney	Beloved	English
Davian	Beloved	American
Davidde	Beloved	Hebrew

Davide	Beloved	Hebrew
Davidson	Beloved; son of David	Hebrew
Daviel	Beloved	Hebrew
Davies	Beloved; son of David	Hebrew
Davin	Beloved	Welsh
Davis	Son of David	English
Davon		American
Davyd	Beloved	Hebrew
Davydd	Beloved	Hebrew
Davyn		Welsh

What names sound like David?

If you like how David sounds, you might also like these names that sound like David.

Name	Meaning	Origin
Arvid	Eagle tree	Scandinavian
Daivat	Power, strength	Indian (Sanskrit)
Hamid	Praiseworthy	Arabic
Navid	Best wishes	Persian
Ovid	“A sheep herder,” from the Latin ovis, sheep.	Latin

Yadid	Beloved	Hebrew
Yazid	Becoming greater	African

What names are similar to David?

Find a name that’s like David, but just a little bit different.

Name	Meaning	Origin
Aaron	High mountain	Hebrew
Abraham	Father of nations	Hebrew
Adam	Man	Hebrew
Benjamin	A favorite son	Hebrew
Caleb	Whole heart	Hebrew
Cohen	Priest	Hebrew
Daniel	God is My Judge	Hebrew
Eli	Ascension	Hebrew
Gabriel	God is my strength	Hebrew
Samuel	Name of God	Hebrew

Lists With David

Find inspiration in these baby boy name lists featuring the name David.

Siblings of David

Mamas with kids named David also have kids with these names.

Name	Meaning	Origin
Caleb	Whole heart	Hebrew
Chloe	Green sprout	Greek
Marea	A variant form of Marina.

Jensen	Son of Jens	Scandinavian
Morgan	Circling sea	Welsh
James	Supplanter	English
Noah	To rest	Hebrew
Aliya	Rising, ascending	Hebrew
Kylie	Boomerang	Aboriginal
Ryann	King	Irish
Ezra	Help	Hebrew
Isabella	Devoted to God	Italian
Brielle	God is my strength	French
Hallie	A variant spelling of Hally.	Scandinavian
Charlie	Free man	English
Josef	Jehovah increases	Hebrew
Taylor	Tailor; to cut	French
Reece	Enthusiasm	Welsh

Grace	Gracious one	English
Faith	Devotion	English
Elizabeth	God is my oath	Hebrew
William	A willing protector	German
Marie	A French form of Mary.	French
Joy	Happiness	Latin
Jordyn	To descend	Hebrew
Jubilee	Ram's horn	Hebrew
Robert	Bright fame	German
Kara	A short form of Karen.	Latin
Jeanie	God is gracious	Hebrew
Alyson	Noble, exalted	German
Harley	Hare meadow	English
Vincent	Conquer	Latin
Benedict	Blessed	Latin

Eric	Everlasting ruler	Scandinavian
Selena	Moon	Spanish
Ilana	Tree	Hebrew
Jeriah	Taught by God	Hebrew
Tabitha	Gazelle	Aramaic
Daniel	God is My Judge	Hebrew

Share Your Thoughts

52 Comments

Kimberly Apr 3 at 11:03 am

David is my 3rd baby born at 37 weeks due to placentaprevia. Delivered C-section he weighted 6’7 and 19 inch long. This was my first C-section

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Rebekah Oct 16 at 2:36 pm

Our David is definitely beloved of many people! We love that David in the Bible is said to be a man after God’s heart and pray that that will be the case for our son.

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Bunmi Jul 4 at 10:48 pm

David is a warrior and God gave him to me as a reminder that am not a loser but a warrior.Amen

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- Star Q Craig Mar 8 at 11:10 pm
  
  Always, yes. His oneness with God showed us strength, that should always be able to protect the poor or needy, men woman and children before Christ. Giving tears of Joy, for genuine thoughts, words, acts of kindness. To know such a man, will melt your heart, even if one heart feels dry as dust, or hardened, he cared to find meaning. David understands truth wherever existent. Remembering we fight for Love and give love to what Jesus sees as a faithful example, focused on the truth, even if its everyone else is lost.
  
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Jean Jul 4 at 12:14 pm

Family name! I like how classic it is, but wish there was a good nickname to fit a baby

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Angelina Jun 10 at 3:21 pm

My husband proposed this name and I liked it too. It means “beloved” and David was a great Biblical character: a musician, poet, warrior, king, and best of all, a man after God’s own heart.

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Carrie May 6 at 7:58 am

Family and Biblical name.
It is very common but oh well.

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David Jan 21 at 7:17 am

My mother was reading through Psalms when she chose my name. We now have two David Jr.’s and Sr.’s in our family. I love the name, and I’m grateful it is mine, my son’s, our grandson’s, and our son-in-law’s. However, I find it difficult to live up to the name in Biblical terms as we strive to. It means “beloved of God,” which is the most essential factor in our lives, to love God and BE LOVED BY GOD.

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Kayler Jan 16 at 9:33 am

My husband and his father’s name

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Misty Oct 1 at 9:01 am

I love this name for my son

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Bernadette Aug 4 at 10:59 am

King David from biblical times is an epic person. His humility and trust on the lord made him fearless. Musician, soldier, friend, king. He asked for forgiveness when he betrayed the Lord and continued to serve Him. I love the image of David dancing before the Ark. He was passionate. To be honest I don’t really like the sound of the name but who it brings to mind As a mentor for our son made it our choice.

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Angela Hammond May 22 at 1:42 pm

His name is David Elijah, Originally we were just going to name him Elijah, But once he was born my husband really felt strongly to name him David Elijah. David and The Bible was a man after God’s heart In Elijah was my favorite prophet I’m not like the meaning of both the names

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Daniela Stone May 1 at 10:10 pm

It was a god-given name.

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Madelyn Figy Apr 23 at 3:53 pm

David is a family name! Our baby will be David III and we thought that was so special.

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raluca Dec 5 at 6:17 pm

We are a Romanian/Chinese family so we wanted a short, simple and also biblical name that both our families can pronounce

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David Nov 24 at 4:05 am

David

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- mira Jan 15 at 11:37 am
  
  are u David D I am mira
  
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  - My name is David Mar 7 at 10:10 am
    
    David greatest name in plant David man after God own heart All David be proud of your name important in life David is hero warrior musician poem great man
    
    Reply
Elise Nov 14 at 7:18 am

He is David Jr. after his Dad:)

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Hulrine Aug 23 at 12:34 pm

My husband loved the name first and the David was a man after God’s heart in the bible.so I want my son to love God and be God’s beloved.

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charlotte May 10 at 2:36 am

Chose it because it’s his dads name

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Sarah Feb 20 at 2:05 pm

It sounds good in both English and Spanish, and has a nice meaning (“beloved”).

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Amanda Jan 10 at 3:49 am

My husband and I wanted our son to have a strong, recognizable name that was not currently “trendy.” We spent a lot of time saying baby boy names out loud with our last name trying to hear what felt right, and we just kept coming back to David!

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Natasha Dec 20 at 11:14 am

Honestly I’ve thought of many names for my son but it meant so much to my husband that we name him David Brian after his uncle because my husbands uncle means the world to him and his uncle married us and was there when we were going through tough times with my 4 year old and his uncle has been a blessing in all of our lives and the more I thought about the name the more happy I got and to hear and see the reaction when we told my husband’s uncle that we were naming our son after him I was happy with the name

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Jessica Oct 24 at 3:09 pm

It means Beloved… David is one of my favorite lovers of God in the Bible. He was courageous, He was a psalmist, and musician. He was a Shepherd, and a man after Gods heart! He had faith that took down the greatest giant of His time, when everyone else was petrified in fear. He also was anointed by God to become king.

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Deylan Oct 19 at 8:25 am

I love this name because it has a beautiful meaning and it is biblical.

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Cindy Oct 1 at 5:56 am

*

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Teresa Jul 13 at 5:50 pm

He was named after both of his grandfathers.

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Olga Jul 5 at 2:51 pm

My elder son chose this name for his little brother. He was very persistent and also prayed for his baby brother by name for two months before he was born. So my husband and I couldn’t object. The big brother was super happy and loves David so much.

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Angela Ammerman Jun 6 at 9:33 am

We chose this name because it is a strong family name and a biblical name. Also, I was a public school teacher for many years and I never had a David in class that I didn’t like! I cannot say the same about other names!

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Allison Jun 4 at 11:32 am

I named him David because his father grandfather and great grandfather are all named David. We just chose a different middle name.I love his name. But because they all have the same first name, we are calling him by his middle name.

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Faith Mar 13 at 8:02 am

We wanted a Bible name and both of us like the name David. Plus the meaning is “beloved” and after having 2 miscarriages before this, we thought it appropriate.

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Ticarria Lynn Dec 30 at 9:27 am

Named after my father and stepfather

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Ashlee Dec 20 at 9:24 am

We named him after his dad. He is the first son in the family after 7 girls.

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Sandra Nov 3 at 10:26 am

My husband chose the name David and when i had my son in my arms for the first time I fell in love with him

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Catherine Aug 31 at 11:32 am

We wanted a classic, simple, not too biblical but still significant name. And most of all we wanted our little guy to have an easy name to spell and pronounce (for him and others) through his life.

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Anya Aug 30 at 8:15 am

Means beloved. We named him in honor of my husband’s grandfather.

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Maria Aug 22 at 11:00 am

Thnx God for his secure arrival.

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Hayley Aug 19 at 8:09 am

I do not like common names or weird names so I wanted an older name. My first son is named Thomas and when it came to the second David just seemed to fit. I love that both of them are biblical and that they each have a middle name after their grandfathers. When I searched the name David the meaning is beloved.

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Erica Aug 13 at 10:51 am

I love the name David. My 4 year old name is David
Hes a sweet heart and loves his mommy. (Me)

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Briana Jul 31 at 7:13 pm

He’s named after his dad and grandpa

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Nanci Jul 31 at 2:22 am

I wanted to name my son Emmanuel which means (God with us) but my husband didn’t like it he wanted to name him David which means (beloved) wasn’t really a fan of the name but it fits him well, I gave a chance for my husband to name him because I named my other son Daniel (God is my judge) which he wasn’t a fan of the name but I sure liked it.

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Kailie Jul 16 at 11:15 am

I choose the name to honor my father

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Elizabeth Jun 22 at 1:17 pm

I wanted a bible name,and a name no one we knew had personally

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Rebecca Jun 11 at 10:12 am

I chose David because it’s his great grandfather’s name that David’s father held to high regard.

I don’t have any dislike towards the name

David is my first and he is the sweetest, funniest, and cutest baby I think I’ve ever seen

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FM Jun 4 at 1:01 pm

I named my baby after my Grandpa. He is no longer with us and is our tradition to name our children after our deceased ancestors. I have a nephew David as well. He is called Davey for now but it will probably be David once he is older.

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Twila Apr 23 at 9:00 pm

My husband and I have decided to name our boys after prophets from the Bible. This may seem like an odd choice in that category, but King David wrote several Psalms prophesying about Jesus. This name is also a tribute to one of my husband’s college roommates who was a groomsman in our wedding and remains a dear friend. Finally, we intend to use the Fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23 as a guide in our name search for each one. The first quality on the list is Love. David is our firstborn and his name means “Beloved.”
I love that this name is familiar, but rare in this generation which makes it both normal and special.

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Melodie Apr 22 at 12:58 pm

David is our sons middle name. Named after a great-grandfather

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Gabrielle Apr 13 at 10:52 am

David is my husbands first name, named after both of his grandfathers. Our first born is named after my husband, but we chose II instead of Jr.

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Elizabeth Apr 11 at 11:45 pm

This was a no brainer for us. We used it as a middle name so that our son would be named after both his dad and his grandfather. We almost lost his grandfather to a stroke shortly after we found out we were expecting so we knew right away we wanted to use it. It is very common, but it’s classic. We paired it with the first name “Jensen.” A unique name with a classic name.

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Liz Apr 11 at 2:13 pm

David is such a classic name. We want all of our children to have names that are spelled the same in English and Spanish, and David fits that important criteria. It’s also a family name. I actually really adore his name. My son has so much spunk, he needed a grand name like David. It’s also more old-school and is not as common anymore.

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Jessica Apr 11 at 1:17 pm

We were looking for a timeless, classic name, and it had to be English-Spanish bilingual. My husband also prefers shorter names, and I wanted a biblical name. We both like the biblical story of David, it’s short, and it works in so many languages. We also wanted a name that would be more likely to remain “whole”. In Spanish, David doesn’t usually get shortened.

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David