Very Common

David

A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "beloved".

Roughly 2,847,418 people in the United States go by the first name David, which ranks #31 nationally when sorted by estimated living bearers. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named David today is around 54 years old, and the year with the single highest number of David births was 1955 (86,450 babies). In terms of living bearers, it sits close to Robert (2,799,566).

This page is the full Name Census profile for David. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.

Key insights

• Although David is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 12,953 girls registered with the name since 1880.
• Over 2.8 million Americans are estimated to carry the first name David, putting it among the highest-count names in the entire dataset.

People living today

2.8M

~ 1 in 120 Americans

Peak year

1955

86,450 babies that year

Average age

years old

2024 SSA rank

#31

Tracked since 1880

Gender

Gender distribution for David

Out of the 3,682,683 babies given the name David since 1880, 99.6% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.

100% male

Male3,669,730 (99.6%)Female12,953 (0.4%)

David as a male name

Ranked #31 in 2024
7,317 male births in 2024
Peak: 1955 (86,301 births)

David as a female name

Ranked #12,438 in 2024
7 female births in 2024
Peak: 1983 (321 births)

Popularity

David: popularity over time

The SSA tracks David from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 771,533 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.

Babies born per year

MaleFemale

Decades

David by decade

The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name David during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.

Decade	Male	Female	Total
1880s	7,569	20	7,589
1890s	7,333	28	7,361
1900s	8,619	42	8,661
1910s	43,853	227	44,080
1920s	88,737	497	89,234
1930s	164,699	675	165,374
1940s	426,365	1,042	427,407
1950s	769,951	1,582	771,533
1960s	733,939	2,524	736,463
1970s	445,741	2,494	448,235
1980s	383,702	2,535	386,237
1990s	253,712	749	254,461
2000s	180,072	337	180,409
2010s	116,704	159	116,863
2020s	38,734	42	38,776

Geography

Where Davids live

The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named David, while Wyoming, Alaska, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 71,653 registrations each.

Origin

Meaning and history of David

The name David is a masculine given name of Hebrew origin. It stems from the Hebrew word "דָּוִד" (Dawid), which is likely derived from the Hebrew root word "ידד" (yadad), meaning "beloved" or "friend". The name is believed to have originated in ancient Israel, around 1000 BCE or earlier.

One of the most famous historical references to the name David is in the Hebrew Bible. David was the second king of the United Monarchy of Israel and Judah, ruling from around 1010 to 970 BCE. He is revered in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions as a prophet, a righteous king, and an ancestor of Jesus.

The name David has been continuously used throughout history, with some notable examples including:

1. David I of Scotland (1084-1153), a 12th-century king of Scotland.

2. David Hume (1711-1776), a Scottish philosopher, economist, and historian.

3. David Livingstone (1813-1873), a Scottish missionary and explorer in Africa.

4. David Lloyd George (1863-1945), a British statesman and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during World War I.

5. David Ben-Gurion (1886-1973), the primary founder and the first Prime Minister of Israel.

The name David has been popular across various cultures and religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It has been widely used in Europe, particularly in the United Kingdom, Scotland, and Ireland, as well as in the United States and other parts of the world with significant Christian or Jewish communities.

Notable bearers

Famous people named David

People

David + last name combinations

How many people share a full name with David as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.

Other names starting with D

Other first names starting with D with a similar number of bearers.

FAQ

David: questions and answers

How many people in the U.S. are named David?

Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,847,418 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for David going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 120 US residents.

Is David a common name?

We classify David as "Very Common". It ranks above 100% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,682,683 babies have been registered with this name.

When was David most popular?

The single biggest year for David was 1955, when 86,450 babies received the name. The fact that the average living David is about 54 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.

Is David a male name?

Yes, 99.6% of people registered as David in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.

Where does this data come from?

First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.

Name Census

namecensus.com

There are 2.8M people

with the first name

David

Look up any American name

Share this result

Twitter/X Facebook