Show ContentsDawid Surname History

Etymology of Dawid

What does the name Dawid mean?

The surname Dawid is a patronymic formed from the Hebraic, given name David. David was perhaps the greatest of the early kings of Israel, whose life and deeds are contained in the First Book of Samuel. This given name was also adopted by Christians in the Middle Ages and patronymic surnames rooting from David were created in Wales, Scotland, England, France, Portugal and Czech lands. The version 'Davis' was an English language creation, which means 'son of David,' but many Jews in English speaking lands have assumed this form of the name.

Accordingly, Jewish surnames are found all over the world. Although the ancient homeland of the Jewish people is Palestine, the Jews were expelled from this region after it was conquered by the Roman Empire in the 1st century BC.

Furthermore, Jews who lived in the western side of the Empire spoke Latin, and the Jews living in Palestine, Syria, and Mesopotamia all were commonly known with Aramaic names. 1

Dawid Spelling Variations

Spelling variations of this family name include: David, Davis, Davies, Davida, Davidai, Davidy, Davidman, Dawid, Dawidman and many more.


Contemporary Notables of the name Dawid (post 1700) +

  • Damian Dawid Szymanski (b. 1995), Polish professional footballer who plays midfielder
  • Dawid Florian (b. 1982), Polish footballer who plays as a midfielder for Klasa A club Ostoja Kolaczyce
  • Dawid Petrus Pretorius (b. 1986), South African rugby union footballer
  • Dawid Hercules Botha (b. 1988), Namibian cricketer
  • Dawid Markelowicz Janowski (1868-1927), Polish chess master, brother of Chaim Janowski
  • Dawid Bezuidenhout (1935-1998), South African teacher and politician
  • Dawid Kucharski (b. 1984), Polish footballer


  1. Weiss, Nelly. The Origin of Jewish family names: Morphology and History. Peter Lang AG, 2002. Digital


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