David
Meaning and origin
Wiktionary describes it as a male given name from Hebrew, equivalent to English David. From Late Latin Dāvīd, from Koine Greek Δαυῑ̈́δ (Dauī̈́d), from Biblical Hebrew דָּוִד (dāwiḏ). First recorded as a given name in Sweden in runes around 1200.
Source: Wiktionary, Swedish entry for David (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, David has been falling over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 1998. The figures are for this exact spelling; other spellings of the name are counted on their own.
Years with fewer than two babies (fewer than ten before 2004) show as zero in the chart and as – in the table.
Show the figures
| Year | Boys |
|---|---|
| 1998 | 727 |
| 1999 | 657 |
| 2000 | 640 |
| 2001 | 626 |
| 2002 | 617 |
| 2003 | 623 |
| 2004 | 602 |
| 2005 | 503 |
| 2006 | 433 |
| 2007 | 408 |
| 2008 | 397 |
| 2009 | 312 |
| 2010 | 294 |
| 2011 | 251 |
| 2012 | 237 |
| 2013 | 218 |
| 2014 | 216 |
| 2015 | 180 |
| 2016 | 184 |
| 2017 | 152 |
| 2018 | 160 |
| 2019 | 150 |
| 2020 | 149 |
| 2021 | 113 |
| 2022 | 97 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Men and boys |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 24,461 |
| 2000 | 25,134 |
| 2001 | 25,793 |
| 2002 | 26,473 |
| 2003 | 27,211 |
| 2004 | 27,884 |
| 2005 | 28,365 |
| 2006 | 28,840 |
| 2007 | 29,236 |
| 2008 | 29,747 |
| 2009 | 30,114 |
| 2010 | 30,338 |
| 2011 | 30,565 |
| 2012 | 30,797 |
| 2013 | 31,046 |
| 2014 | 31,291 |
| 2015 | 31,518 |
| 2016 | 31,735 |
| 2017 | 32,023 |
| 2018 | 32,212 |
| 2019 | 32,467 |
| 2020 | 32,606 |
David in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter David.Hi! My name is David.
- David bor i Umeå och jobbar som snickare.David lives in Umeå and works as a carpenter.
- David har bott i Uppsala i tre år.David has lived in Uppsala for three years.
- Davids mamma är lärare.David's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Davids mamma is David's mum.
More names
Questions about David
How do you pronounce David in Swedish?
In IPA, David is /²dɑːvɪd/. Press Listen at the top of the page to hear it in your device's Swedish voice.
What does the name David mean?
Wiktionary describes it as a male given name from Hebrew, equivalent to English David. From Late Latin Dāvīd, from Koine Greek Δαυῑ̈́δ (Dauī̈́d), from Biblical Hebrew דָּוִד (dāwiḏ). First recorded as a given name in Sweden in runes around 1200.
How popular is David in Sweden?
97 babies were named David in 2022. In 2020, 32,606 people in Sweden had David as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been falling lately and peaked in 1998 in the years SCB covers (1998–2022).
Popularity figures: Statistics Sweden (SCB), name statistics (BE0001) from the Statistical Database, released as open data under CC0. Each spelling is counted as its own name, as SCB does. SCB's open name statistics end with babies named in 2022 and the population on 31 December 2020; SCB stopped producing name statistics in 2024 and now points to the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) for newer figures.
Origins, IPA and recordings: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), via kaikki.org; recordings from Lingua Libre on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA). Lingolib is not affiliated with SCB or Wiktionary. Sources last checked 7 October 2026.