Davis
- Gender
- Male
- Meaning
- David's Son
- Origin
- English
About the Name Davis
Davis descends from the Old English patronymic surname meaning "son of David" (see separate entry on David for the Hebrew Dawid etymology meaning "beloved" — and the iconic biblical King David). The Davis surname has been used continuously in English-speaking countries since the medieval period and is one of the most-common American surnames.
Notable bearers include the iconic Confederate Civil War president Jefferson Davis (using Davis as a surname, 1808–1889, the President of the Confederate States of America 1861–1865); American actress Bette Davis (using Davis as a surname, 1908–1989, the iconic two-time Oscar-winning American actress); American jazz musician Miles Davis (using Davis as a surname, 1926–1991, the iconic American jazz trumpeter and bandleader); and the iconic American filmmaker Davis Guggenheim (born 1963).
The name's transition from surname to American first name accelerated through the 2000s and 2010s, riding the broader American taste for surname-style first names alongside Hudson, Carter, and Mason. Davis's American climb has been substantial: the name climbed from outside the US top 1000 in 2000 to the US top 300 boys' rank by 2014 and the top 300 since. The name's appeal sits in three contemporary American naming preferences: the surname-style sophistication, the in-built David-classical biblical-religious anchor, and the popular two-syllable -is ending. Two firm syllables, soft consonants, and tonal versatility from rural-American to upwardly-mobile-American. The name reads as both classical-Hebrew and contemporary American with the strong Bette Davis and Miles Davis American cultural anchors. Common nicknames Dave (back-end shortening, the related shorter form, a popular standalone name on its own), Davy, Davie, and the rare Vis each carry distinct registers; the alternate spellings Davis and Davies (Welsh alternate) have their own SSA tracking. International forms include the broader David/Dawid Hebrew family.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Davis
US Popularity History (2000–2025)
Annual US births named Davis by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2007 with 756 boys named Davis (boy rank #395 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2025, ranked #668 for boys (409 US births). That's 273 places below its 2007 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Where in the US Is Davis Most Popular?
Average boy-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's boys-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Davis the strongest states are North Carolina, Alabama, Georgia.
Strongest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Carolina | #285 | 371 |
| 2 | Alabama | #294 | 175 |
| 3 | Georgia | #316 | 339 |
| 4 | Mississippi | #317 | 86 |
| 5 | South Carolina | #343 | 130 |
| 6 | Tennessee | #358 | 204 |
| 7 | Utah | #365 | 126 |
| 8 | Nebraska | #372 | 21 |
| 9 | Arkansas | #408 | 75 |
| 10 | Kentucky | #419 | 87 |
Weakest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York | #1,055 | 50 |
| 2 | Michigan | #739 | 81 |
| 3 | California | #732 | 335 |
| 4 | Illinois | #717 | 118 |
| 5 | Arizona | #700 | 77 |
| 6 | Ohio | #681 | 140 |
| 7 | Minnesota | #654 | 69 |
| 8 | Washington | #651 | 93 |
| 9 | Florida | #650 | 221 |
| 10 | Massachusetts | #598 | 52 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Davis in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Looking for names like Davis?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Davis to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Davis against today's most popular boys-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).
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