In 2025, 6,794 US boys were named David, making it the 35th most common boys’ name of the year, down 4 places from #31 in 2024. That is 575 fewer than the 7,369 boys named David in 2024. Its best rank for boys was #1, reached in 1960. The most boys given the name in a single year was 86,306, in 1955. For comparison, it was #18 in 2015 and #5 in 1950.
Social Security card records list David in every one of the 146 years from 1880 to 2025; in 1880 there were 869 babies with the name. In all, 3,689,613 US babies have been given the name, 0.4% of them girls and 99.6% boys. Its busiest decade was the 1950s, with 771,543 babies named David.
Over the 10 years from 2016 to 2025, 85,813 US boys were named David; the busiest of those years was 2016, with 11,153. In 2025 that was about 1 in 251 of the boys in SSA’s list for the year.
Among the states, David ranked highest in New York in 2025, at #15 for boys there. It was in the top 100 in 46 states (counting DC). Related spellings in the SSA files include Dave (64,492 babies since 1880), Davey (3,568 babies since 1880) and Davy (3,008 babies since 1880). Rarer spellings such as Kawika, Davide and Davied are summarised on this page. The open nickname list we use links it to Dave, Davey and Day.