Davis

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Davies in BE Belgium, ZA South Africa, NG Nigeria and 5 more and Dāvis in LV Latvia.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 18 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Davis is also recorded as 7 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• a separate surname753K records spelled Davis7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, India

  Also written D-Avis, Davi-S, Dāvis, Davís, Dávis

• Spanish surname716K records spelled Davis25 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, France, Argentina, Brazil

  Languages: Spanish, French, Portuguese

  Also written D'Avis, D' Avis, Davi'S, Dāvis, Davïs

• Hindi surname56K records spelled Davis10 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, India, United Kingdom, Canada

  Languages: Hindi, Urdu

  Also written Dāvis, Ďåvįŝ, Dâvîš, Dåvîs, Dävis

• Thai surname44K records spelled Davis18 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Thailand, United Kingdom, Canada

  Languages: Thai, Lao

  Also written Davies, เดวิส, ดวิษ, เดวี่ส์, เดวีส์

• Polish surname40K records spelled Davis32 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Poland, Czechia, United Kingdom

  Languages: Polish, Czech, Croatian

  Also written Davies, Dejvis, Dāvis, Дејвис, Dejviš

• Greek surname27K records spelled Davis9 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Greece, United States, United Kingdom, Canada

  Also written Δαβης, Nteivis, Dāvis, Ντειβις, Δάβης

• Indonesian surname25K records spelled Davis3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Indonesia, United Kingdom, India

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written Dāvis

87 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Davis is also recorded in 3 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• Hijo de David

  as a name·25,000 nombres de bebé. La mejor guía para escoger el nombre adecuado

• In Irish, This well-known Welsh name is associated with Mallow through Thomas Davis. O’Donovan’s statement that it is also a synonym of MacDavid or MacDavymore, a branch of the MacMurroughs in Co. Wexford, is disputed. IF App

  as a name·The Surnames of Ireland

• In se, locative singular of davvi

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Jefferson Davisb. 1808USPresident of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865 (1808–1889)
• Bette Davisb. 1908USAmerican actress (1908–1989)
• Nancy Reaganb. 1921USnot in their usual nameFirst Lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989
• Miles Davisb. 1926USAmerican jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer (1926–1991)
• Angela Davisb. 1944USAmerican political activist, scholar, and author (born 1944)
• Viola Davisb. 1965USAmerican actress and producer (born 1965)
• Warwick Davisb. 1970GBEnglish actor
• Jonathan Davisb. 1971USAmerican singer
• Lauren Davisb. 1993USAmerican tennis player
• Ben Daviesb. 1993GBnot in their usual nameWelsh association football player (born 1993)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 792 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Davis?

We estimate roughly 1.1 million people bear Davis (counting its spellings and scripts) across 9 countries in our records.

In which country does Davis have the most bearers?

Davis is most frequently recorded in the United Kingdom, where it is most often spelled davis.

How common is Davis compared with other names?

In the United Kingdom, Davis is the 3rd most common surname of 1,169,970 surnames recorded there.

What does the name Davis mean?

Recorded meaning: Forme anglaise apparentée à David, « bien-aimé ».