Dovid
Masculine · Hebrew roots · “beloved”
Dovid is the way David has sounded in Yiddish-speaking mouths for centuries — the same biblical name, written down as it is actually said. Two even syllables, DOH-vid, with none of the consonant clusters that trip people up. It carries one of the oldest continuously used names in the Western world, in the spelling that kept it close to home.
How old is the name Dovid?
Dovid first appears in US birth records in 1957 — 68 years ago. The typical Dovid is a kid of about 12 — this name's wave is very recent. About 3,300 people named Dovid are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Dovid most popular?
Dovid peaked in 2025, reaching #1212 nationally. Today it ranks #1212, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Dawid (Hebrew) to Dovid
The story of Dovid
The name belongs to the second king of Israel, the shepherd and psalmist of the Hebrew Bible, and it has been in unbroken use ever since. Greek and Latin translators carried it into Christian Europe as David, while Jewish communities in Central and Eastern Europe kept saying it the Ashkenazi way — Dovid — with the long vowel that Yiddish gave the Hebrew letter. When those communities came to America, most families let the English spelling stand in on paper. Dovid is the spelling that refuses the substitution: the pronunciation the family already used, written out plainly. Its concentration in New Jersey, New York and Maryland traces the map of Orthodox Jewish life in the United States.
Meaning
beloved
From Hebrew דָּוִד (Dawid), understood as "beloved" or "darling."
How the name formed
- DawidHebrew
- DauidGreek
- DavidLatin
- DovidYiddish
Related forms: David · Dawid · Dawud · Dafydd · Dáibhí · Давид (David)
Pronouncing Dovid
DOH-vid
Stress on the first syllable. Some families say DUV-id, following Hungarian Yiddish. People unfamiliar with the spelling often default to reading it as David.
Nicknames for Dovid
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
- 1957
- Most boys named
- 2025167 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1212reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +10.6%167 in 2025, from 151
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.
Dovid in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- David in Hebrew — transliteration
- Dawid in Polish — same name
- Dawud in Arabic — related form
- Dafydd in Welsh — related form
- Dáibhí in Irish — related form
- Давид (David) in Russian — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: New Jersey, New York, Maryland.
Dovids among us
people named Dovid are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 10,228 born in 2025 was named Dovid
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 Markanthony test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Dovid's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Markanthony climbed just as high around 1997, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Markanthony's path sketches the road Dovid is walking now.
Dovid 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 Dovid is headed
Dovid 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.
Dovid beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Dovid in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Instantly recognizable as David, so no one has to be told what the name is — only how it is said.
- Carries one of the longest unbroken records of any name in use, from the Hebrew Bible to the present day.
- Established short forms in two directions: Dovi and Dovidl inside the family, Dave outside it.
- Spelled phonetically — it reads the way it sounds, once a reader knows to trust the o.
- The spelling will be quietly corrected to David by autocorrect, receptionists and school forms for life. Most families with this name make peace with repeating it.
- It reads clearly as a Jewish name from a specific tradition, concentrated in particular communities. That is a feature for many families and worth thinking about for others.
- Outside those communities, a child will likely be the only one in the room with this spelling, and may hear DOV-id or David before the right version sticks.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Dovid to the vote.
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What they receive
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Dovid
Masculine · Hebrew roots · #1212 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Dovids are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,300 people named Dovid are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Dovid in 2025?
- Dovid ranks #1212 among US boy names in 2025, with 167 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Dovid?
- About 1 in every 10,228 US boys born in 2025 was named Dovid — 167 in all.
- Will my child share the name Dovid with classmates?
- Dovid will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Dovid
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Jahkai#1212 · Kruz#1212 · Bilal#1212 · Harlow#1212 · Draven#1217 · Syed#1217 · Jahziel#1217 · Luan#1217
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Dovid? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Dovid 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
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