Davis

DAY·vis · 2 syllables

Davis feels distinctive without creating everyday friction in daily use.

91/100

Strong Practical Fit

Balanced across pronunciation, everyday use, lifetime fit and international use.

Name Profile

Pronunciation & Spelling
Effortless
A documented English pronunciation is on file: DAY-vis.
91/100
Everyday Use
Low risk
95/100
Growing Up
Strong lifetime fit
Works comfortably across child and adult settings.
82/100
International Use
Broad international fit
Works cleanly across the assessed languages and writing systems.
85/100

NAME DETAILS

OTHER-LANGUAGE FORMS: Davies; Davidson; Davison

ORIGIN & HISTORY

About the name

"Son of David" — Davis is a patronymic surname built directly on the given name David, rather than carrying a separate lexical meaning of its own.

Dafydd (Welsh, root given name). Welsh Dafydd (English David) was in use as a given name by the 13th century, exemplified by Dafydd ap Gruffydd (1238-1283), Prince of Wales; the Davis surname form was recorded from the 12th century onward and became one of the most common surnames among Welsh, English, Scottish, and Irish populations, ranking as the seventh most frequently reported surname in the 2000 US census (0.48% of the population).

POPULARITY

Davis over time

United States

#668RANK

Rank #668 gives national context, not a classroom forecast.

Uncommon in current U.S. usage. Ranked #668 in the U.S., 2025.

SourceU.S. Social Security Administration · 2025 release

Pronunciation & Forms

SAY IT

DAY·vis

STRESS ON THE FIRST SYLLABLE

OTHER-LANGUAGE FORMS

Davidroot given name
DaviesCY
Davidson
Davison

PRACTICAL LIFE

How This Name Lives

AT SCHOOL & DAY TO DAY

Short, easy to say and spell for a child, and immediately legible as a surname-turned-first-name in the same family as Mason, Parker, or Cooper.

INTO ADULTHOOD

Davis reads as solid, professional, and unremarkable as an adult first name in US English, consistent with its long history as one of the most common Welsh/English/American surnames now used as a given name.

Cultural Footprint

Davis functions in US usage as a transferred-surname given name; it is one of the most common surnames in English-speaking countries (7th most common in the 2000 US census) rather than a name with a distinct given-name-specific cultural tradition.

TRACEABLE ORIGIN

Miles Davis (1926-1991)Era

Names around it

David

EDITORIAL SYNTHESIS

The Decision

Davis is spelled without unusual letter patterns, and it holds up in everyday use. Surname-dependent compatibility remains unassessed until a surname is added.

STRENGTH

A documented English pronunciation is on file. Uses standard characters that systems widely handle cleanly.

BEST FIT

Everyday Use is the strongest-scoring part of this name — no obvious nickname traps, rhymes, or initial issues detected.

FULL-NAME CHECK