David
Masculine · “beloved”
David is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 3,676,654 boys against 12,959 girls since 1880. See David as a girl name
For a long time there was no evidence outside the Bible that David existed at all. Then in 1993 an Aramaic inscription turned up at Tel Dan in northern Israel, cut in the ninth century BC by an enemy king boasting about killing a king of the House of David. One broken stone, and the name is in the record.
How old is the name David?
David was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical David alive today was born around 1963, making them about 62 years old. About 2,764,000 people named David are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name David most popular?
David peaked in 1960, reaching #1 nationally. Today it ranks #35, 34 places below that high. See the whole 1960 chart.
Where it comes from
From Dawid to David
The story of David
The Tel Dan stele matters because it is hostile: it is an enemy's victory inscription, written within about a century and a half of the events, and it refers to the ruling house of Judah by its founder's name as a matter of routine. That is a very different kind of evidence from a text written by people with an interest in the story. The name itself went everywhere Judaism and Christianity did, and in one country it went further than anywhere else. Wales made a David its patron saint — Dewi, a sixth-century monk whose day is the first of March — and the name has been ordinary there ever since, so ordinary that Dai and Taffy became generic words for a Welshman.
Meaningscholars disagree
beloved
The traditional reading takes it from Hebrew dod, beloved or uncle. A second account connects it with an Akkadian and Mari word for a commander or chieftain, which would make it a title rather than a name. Beloved is the older and commoner reading; neither has been settled.
Cultural footprint
David Bowie (b. 1947) — Rock's endlessly reinvented starman
David Attenborough (b. 1926) — The voice of the natural world
David Beckham (b. 1975) — Soccer superstar who bent it like no one else
David Hume (b. 1711) — Giant of Enlightenment philosophy
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- Dawid
- David
Related forms: David · Dewi · Dawud · David · Dovid · David
Pronouncing David
DAY-vid
Two syllables, stress on the first. Spanish and French put it at the end, da-VEED, with no audible d in the French. Hebrew says da-VEED as well. The English front-loading is the outlier.
Nicknames for David
High
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 196085,929 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1reached in 1960
- Change vs 2022
- −13.2%6,794 in 2025, from 7,829
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.
David in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- David in Hebrew — same name
- Dewi in Welsh — same name
- Dawud in Arabic — same name
- David in Russian — same name
- Dovid in Yiddish — same name
- David in Spanish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York. International figures from Statistics Canada, Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland. Sources
Davids among us
people named David are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 251 born in 2025 was named David
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 James test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. David's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: James climbed just as high around 1940, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and James's path sketches the road David is walking now.
David has held the top-100 across 15 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where David is headed
David should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
David beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to David in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A three-thousand-year record with independent archaeological confirmation of the dynasty.
- The same spelling in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, Russian and Hebrew.
- Four short forms in different languages, all in genuine current use.
- Two settled readings of the meaning, both of them short and concrete.
- It has been among the most given names in the English-speaking world for a century, so it carries no signal at all.
- Dave is what most people will settle on, so it is worth liking the short form too.
- The very few girls given this spelling will be read as boys on every form.
- Its most famous story is about a boy killing a man, which children find out about early.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put David to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
David
Masculine · #35 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Davids are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,764,000 people named David are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name David in 2025?
- David ranks #35 among US boy names in 2025, with 6,794 babies given the name.
- How common is the name David?
- About 1 in every 251 US boys born in 2025 was named David — 6,794 in all.
- Will my child share the name David with classmates?
- David will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside David
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Jackson#36 · Thomas#34 · Luke#33 · Gabriel#37 · Wyatt#38 · Matthew#32 · Owen#31 · Mason#39
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles David? See the current top 100.
Choosing between David and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Or jump into a head-to-head
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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