Dawit
Masculine · “Beloved”
Dawit is David in Ge'ez and Amharic, and in Ethiopia that is not a small thing: the Solomonic dynasty claimed descent from the biblical king, and two emperors carried the name. It reached American records with Ethiopian and Eritrean immigration in the late twentieth century.
How old is the name Dawit?
Dawit first appears in US birth records in 1984 — 41 years ago. The typical Dawit alive today was born around 2009, making them about 16 years old. About 600 people named Dawit are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Dawit most popular?
Dawit peaked in 1992, reaching #3748 nationally. Today it ranks #5208, 1,460 places below that high. See the whole 1992 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Dāwīd to Dawit
The story of Dawit
Christianity reached Aksum in the fourth century and the Bible was translated into Ge'ez early, which put the whole cast of Hebrew names into Ethiopian use more than a thousand years before most of Europe's vernacular Bibles existed. Dawit was the form David took there. The Kebra Nagast made Solomonic descent central to Ethiopian kingship, and Dawit I ruled at the turn of the fifteenth century and Dawit II — better known as Lebna Dengel — in the sixteenth. The name has been ordinary in Ethiopia ever since. Its appearance in American data from the 1980s onward follows the Ethiopian and Eritrean communities that settled in Washington, Minneapolis and Los Angeles.
Meaning
Beloved
Dawit is the Ge'ez and Amharic form of Hebrew Dāwīd, generally read as beloved, from a root dwd. The reading is standard, though the Hebrew name's ultimate origin has also been connected to an old Semitic word for a chieftain. The Ethiopian form is a straightforward transmission through Ge'ez Bible translation, not a separate coinage.
How the name formed
- Dāwīd
- Dawit
Related forms: ዳዊት · David · David · Dawud · Dawit
Pronouncing Dawit
DAH-weet
Two syllables, stress on the first. The w is a full consonant and the final t is released clearly. English speakers often say duh-WEET.
Nicknames for Dawit
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
- 1984
- Most boys named
- 201326 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3748reached in 1992
- Change vs 2024
- +5.9%18 in 2025, from 17
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.
Dawit in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- ዳዊት in Amharic — transliteration
- David in Hebrew — same name
- David in English — same name
- Dawud in Arabic — related form
- Dawit in Tigrinya — same name
Dawits among us
people named Dawit are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 94,893 born in 2025 was named Dawit
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 Haruto test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Dawit's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Haruto climbed just as high around 1925, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Haruto's path sketches the road Dawit is walking now.
Dawit 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
Dawit beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Dawit in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is David, with all of that name's history, in a form that is not shared with anyone else in the room.
- The meaning is settled and needs no explanation.
- Dave is available whenever an English-speaking setting wants it.
- It is unfamiliar outside Ethiopian and Eritrean communities and will be misspelled.
- The stress is regularly placed on the wrong syllable in English.
- Dawit and Dawid look close enough to be confused in writing.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Dawit to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Dawit? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Dawit
Masculine · #5208 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Dawits are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Dawit are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Dawit in 2025?
- Dawit ranks #5208 among US boy names in 2025, with 18 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Dawit?
- About 1 in every 94,893 US boys born in 2025 was named Dawit — 18 in all.
- Will my child share the name Dawit with classmates?
- Dawit will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Dawit
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rodger#5208 · Eusebio#5208 · Boy#5208 · Randal#5208 · Gable#5208 · Jessy#5208 · Kelby#5208 · Jens#5208
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Dawit? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Dawit and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
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. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle