Dava
Feminine · “beloved”
David may not mean beloved. That is the standard reading, from a Hebrew word for love, and it may well be right — but there is a long-running argument that the name was a title rather than a personal name, based on a possible reading in some Bronze Age tablets from Syria. The argument is unresolved. Dava is a feminine made from it in twentieth-century America.
How old is the name Dava?
Dava first appears in US birth records in 1931 — 94 years ago. The typical Dava alive today was born around 1974, making them about 51 years old. About 1,300 people named Dava are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Dava most popular?
Dava peaked in 1954, reaching #1422 nationally. Today it ranks #14942, 13,520 places below that high. See the whole 1954 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From David to Dava
The story of Dava
David is one of the central figures of the Hebrew Bible and one of the most-used names in the Western world, and English has never had a settled feminine for it — Davina is Scottish, Davida is Latinate, and Dava is American. Making a woman's name by taking a man's and adding an -a is an English-language habit rather than a Hebrew one, and it produced a crop of them in the twentieth century. Dava appears in the record from 1931 and peaked in 1954.
Meaningscholars disagree
beloved
The usual derivation takes David from the Hebrew dod, meaning beloved or uncle, and that is what most reference works print. A minority view connects it instead to a word in the Mari letters that may denote a commander, which would make the name a title. The Hebrew reading is much the better supported; the alternative is worth knowing exists.
How the name formed
- David
- Dava
Related forms: Davina · Davida
Pronouncing Dava
DAY-vuh
Two syllables, stress on the first. Some families say DAH-vuh with a flatter first vowel; both appear in the record and neither is standard.
Nicknames for Dava
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1931
- Most girls named
- 197041 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1422reached in 1954
- Change vs 2023
- 0.0%5 in 2025, from 5
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Dava in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Davina in Scots — related form
- Davida in Hebrew — related form
Davas among us
people named Dava are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 321,453 born in 2025 was named Dava
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Thais test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Dava's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Thais climbed just as high around 1910, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Thais's path sketches the road Dava is walking now.
Dava sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Dava beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Dava in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Four letters and two open syllables — it fits any form and any accent.
- The name behind it is among the most widely used on earth.
- It ends in an open vowel, which makes it sit well with consonant-heavy surnames.
- It is genuinely rare, so a child will not meet another.
- The first vowel is unsettled, so the name arrives two ways.
- Davia, Dava and Dahlia all sit close by and will be written instead.
- It belongs to a mid-century American generation and carries that flavor.
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What they receive
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Dava
Feminine · #14942 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Davas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,300 people named Dava are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Dava in 2025?
- Dava ranks #14942 among US girl names in 2025, with 5 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Dava?
- About 1 in every 321,453 US girls born in 2025 was named Dava — 5 in all.
- Will my child share the name Dava with classmates?
- Dava will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Dava
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Hester#14942 · Lyda#14942 · Zula#14942 · Zona#14942 · Ula#14942 · Belva#14942 · Lucetta#14942 · Leala#14942
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Dava? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Dava and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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