The Meaning & Etymology of The Name David:

The common answer is "Beloved," or sometimes "Friend," however this is only conjecture. The word for "Beloved" is <Dod>, so you can see that, on the surface, there is considerable difference. However, we can look deeper.
 
Since the ancient Hebrews had no vowels in their written words, the actual consonants, using English letters as substitutes, are "DWD". This is assumed, but not known, to be the root of all of the following words: beloved (DWD), uncle (DWD), aunt (HDD), David (DWD, or DYWD), mandrake (YDWD), and pot/jar (DWD). There is also an association with "leader" with an added ending "dawidum" (DWDM).
 
The above is all from a book, a Hebrew Lexicon. I do, however, have a theory of my own...

The first ingredient of this theory is the well-documented tendency in language to confuse certain sounds across generations and cultures. For example, "TH" can turn into "T" or "SH" very easily. So, words that started out like "Tesh" can become "Thesh" or "Tet."

Because of this, I suspected that the "D" in "David" could have originally come from a "J" or "DJ" or "TH" sound. And, the "W" in the "DWD/David" could have been an "F" or "PH."

Obviously, this has already happened from the original Hebrew "W" as it changed to the English "V" in "David." That is, we don't say "DaWiD" today; the "W" has become a "V." So, we have good evidence that this kind of change occurs across cultures and generations and that it has occurred with this very name in at least one letter!
 
My theory is that the original form of the name was "YaFeT," or "Japheth" the name of Noah's second oldest son mentioned first in Genesis 5:32 of the Bible. This is because the "J" and the "D" and the "T" and "TH" are similar and are known to change into one another. Moreover, the Hebrew language doesn't have a "J" sound. Our only record of the name is "Yefet." If the original name didn't come from the Hebrew language group, it could have had a "J" sound or anything similar. Likewise for the "F/W/V" sounds. These are known to mix easily. You probably know some people from India that use "V" for "W" or vice versa. The Ukrainians do the same thing, I think. And, the Germans do something like this, too. "W" is a hard sound for many languages. To pronounce those words when they come in from other cultures, they change the "W" to a "V" or an "F."
 
So, there is a bridge between all the consonants in "Japheth" and "David." This, alone, would only be speculation, but there is one additional bit of evidence that makes me think it is true. Japheth originally meant "Fair" or "light skinned and haired."

The first usage of the name "David" also includes the comment that he was a RED HEAD. This is a fair-haired trait; from the Bible:

"So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance. And the Lord said, 'Arise, anoint him; for this is he.' Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward..."  - I Samuel 16:12-13

Note: "Ruddy" = Having a fresh, healthy red color: a ruddy complexion. Red or reddish.

One other item, is that "Japheth" was from a non-Hebrew culture. Within the Biblical history, "Japheth" was a pre-Babel name, and "David" is a post-Babel name. This allows plenty of reason to think that sounds would change. This is a cultural and significant generational difference. So it is probable that either or both "Japheth" or "David" were altered. Or, they may have been pronounced identically by their respective cultures and their written names could have been different due to spelling conventions. Moses, the author of Genesis in my opinion, recorded Japheth's history and likely used a mixture of Egyptian and Hebrew writing methods.
 
In any case, the biblical Japheth and David are very similar linguistically, by sound, and they have the same meaning: fair and light-colored in complexion.
 
So, I think the origin of "David" is "Japheth" and I think it means fair, light colored, white, etc. and I think this association was simply lost in history... a real mystery of history!

by David Pensgard