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Abarim Publications'
Biblical Name Vault
Hub
Name Vault
On Names in the Bible
Methods and Sources
Bible Commentary
The Hebrew Alphabet
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Meaning, origin and etymology of the name David
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David  / 
David is the youngest of eight (1 Sam 16:10-13) or seven (1 Chr 2:15) sons of Jesse the Bethlehemite, and the first king of the united Kingdom of Israel. Popular as this name is nowadays, in the Bible there is only one person named this way, and this is really quite rare.
As always with important names, the etymology of the name David is under dispute. But we can't help noticing the distinct similarity with the root (dwd 410) that yields (dod 410a), beloved, uncle;  (doda 410b), aunt;  (duday 410d), mandrake; (dud 410e), pot, jar.
Other words of interest are  (dad 405), nipple, breast, and (dada 406), move slowly. A verb that seems at least visually related (no etymological relationship is mentioned by the sources used) is  (ydd 846), love. King David's most important son, Solomon, was named Jedidiah by Nathan the prophet. The name Jedidiah is formed from this verb .
All except one of the meanings of beloved of the word occur in the Song of Solomon. The one occurrence that is not in the Song is in Isaiah 5:1, the famous song of the vineyard. The word is also be used to simply mean 'love.'
The distinct difference between the name (David) and the word (dod) is that in the name David the letter waw counts for a consonant, while in the word dod it counts for a vowel. A consonant and a vowel are completely different entities and they'll never mean the same, no matter how many times you write them with the same symbol (in this case the waw). If the name was meant to mean Beloved, then it was perhaps given to David after he became king and beloved. In his father's household he wasn't much of a hit, after all. But then, if this name was meant to mean Beloved, why hasn't history given us the tales of King Dod? (BDB makes mention of a sun-god named Dodo ( ) which was worshipped in historical Israel.)
For some reason, Israel's identity of a Kingdom is associated with a king whose name is not a regular Hebrew word, but which is spelled identical to the word for Beloved, and pronounced completely different.
Perhaps, and this is a wild guess, the name Dod was altered to David to charge it with the tone of the word  (dawa 411), infirmity. The derivations of this word all have to do with being sick or unclean (something 'flowing' out), except  (deyo 411e), ink, as used in Jer 36:18 and other places. If this (completely unfounded) assumption has any truth to it, it may be because David's life was tainted with impurities and grief: He is a persecuted fugitive for years, first hunted by his king and father in law, and then by his own son. That son is murdered. Another son rapes his sister. He kills to get his hands on a woman. Their child dies.
To wrap him in the parlance of our days: David is a genocidal maniac, a dictator and a terrorist.
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