Davey
Masculine · “beloved”
Davey is given to both — 3,346 boys and 222 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Davey is the affectionate form of David, a name that means beloved and has been in continuous use for three thousand years. It has been registered under its own name in America since the nineteenth century.
How old is the name Davey?
Davey first appears in US birth records in 1925 — 100 years ago. The typical Davey alive today was born around 1969, making them about 56 years old. About 2,600 people named Davey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Davey most popular?
Davey peaked in 1929, reaching #655 nationally. Today it ranks #3379, 2,724 places below that high. See the whole 1929 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Dawid to Davey
The story of Davey
David has been among the most-used men's names in the English-speaking world for centuries and produced a full set of short forms — Dave, Davy, Davey, Davie. The -ey ending belongs to the same American habit that gave Charlie, Jimmy and Bobby their shapes, and by the late nineteenth century Davey was being registered as a complete name in its own right, particularly in the South and in Wales, where Dai serves the same purpose.
Meaning
beloved
From Hebrew Dawid, generally read as beloved; the king of that name is one of the central figures of the Hebrew Bible and appears in Christian and Islamic tradition alike.
How the name formed
- Dawid
- David
- Davey
Related forms: Davy · Dai · David
Pronouncing Davey
DAY-vee
Two syllables, first stressed. Davey and Davy are said identically.
Nicknames for Davey
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
- 1925
- Most boys named
- 195593 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #655reached in 1929
- Change vs 2023
- +17.2%34 in 2025, from 29
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.
Davey in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Davy in English — spelling variant
- Dai in Welsh — related form
- David in Spanish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Daveys among us
people named Davey are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 50,238 born in 2025 was named Davey
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 Cleon test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Davey's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Cleon climbed just as high around 1903, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Cleon's path sketches the road Davey is walking now.
Davey 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
Where Davey is headed
Davey should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Davey beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Davey in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning inherited from one of the best-documented names in existence.
- Warm and immediately friendly, and understood by everyone.
- David and Dave both stand behind it as plainer or fuller options.
- It reads as a nickname to most people, which may matter on a formal document.
- Davy Jones's locker is a well-known phrase and will be mentioned.
- Davey, Davy and Davie are all used and none is standard.
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What they receive
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Davey
Masculine · #3379 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Daveys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,600 people named Davey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Davey in 2025?
- Davey ranks #3379 among US boy names in 2025, with 34 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Davey?
- About 1 in every 50,238 US boys born in 2025 was named Davey — 34 in all.
- Will my child share the name Davey with classmates?
- Davey will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Davey
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Art#3379 · Sampson#3379 · Kiernan#3379 · Benyamin#3379 · Quamir#3379 · Madhav#3379 · Tuff#3379 · Hubert#3379
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Davey? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Davey and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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