David in Arabic is داود (Dāwud), the prophet and king David in the Quran and in the Arabic Bible, and an Arabic name today. Muslims and Arab Christians share it. For an English speaker named David, Arabic writes the sound, ديفيد (Deefid), as Arabic Wikipedia does for David Bowie and David Beckham.
Copy the form you need. The Listen button reads each spelling in your device's Arabic voice, if it has one, so you can hear how داود and ديفيد differ.
| Use it for | Copy this | Transliteration | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Arabic form of the name, in the Quran and the Arabic Bible alike | داود | Dāwud | |
| The English name David, spelled by its sound | ديفيد | Deefid |
David in Arabic calligraphy, in three styles
Renders of داود and ديفيد, in Amiri, Lemonada and Alkalami, drawn straight from the font files.
داود or ديفيد: which spelling should you use?
Use داود for the king and for an Arabic speaker called Dāwud. Use ديفيد for an English speaker: all four modern Davids in the table further down have it. The simplified script on quran.com spells the name with a second wāw, داوود, in Quran 2:251, while Wiktionary and Arabic Wikipedia give داود.
| Spelling | Who uses it | Source |
|---|---|---|
| داود | Muslims and Arab Christians: the prophet and king David | Quran 2:251; Arabic Wikipedia, داود |
| ديفيد | Arabic writing the English name David by its sound, for an English speaker | our name tool, from Arabic Wikipedia |
How Arabic Wikipedia writes people called David
For the prophet and king David, Arabic Wikipedia uses the Arabic form. For the four modern people called David in the table below, its titles write ديفيد four times. Our name tool gives ديفيد, the spelling of David Beckham's article.
| Person or work | Arabic Wikipedia title | First name as written |
|---|---|---|
| David Beckham | ديفيد بيكهام | ديفيد |
| David Bowie | ديفيد بوي | ديفيد |
| David Attenborough | ديفيد أتينبارا | ديفيد |
| David Hockney | ديفيد هوكني | ديفيد |
How داود is spelled, letter by letter
داود has four letters, read from right to left, starting with the letter د, dāl. د dāl, ا alif and و wāw never join the letter after them, so داود always shows three small gaps. Arabic writes only long vowels as letters. The two short vowels are marks that everyday spelling leaves out; دَاوُد shows them.
| Letter | Name | Sound | Joins the next letter? |
|---|---|---|---|
| د | dāl | d | No, never |
| ا | alif | ā | No, never |
| و | wāw | wu | No, never |
| د | dāl | d | Last letter |
What does David mean?
David means beloved, or possibly uncle, according to Behind the Name. The Hebrew Dawiḏ is derived from dod, beloved or uncle. داود keeps the d-w-d and adds a long ā after the first d. Wiktionary lists Daoud, Dawud and Davoud as its romanizations. David was one of the 50 most common names given to boys born in the US in 2024, in the Social Security Administration's 2024 national file, as copied in the usbabynames data package.
Two related names on this site are Daniel in Arabic, دانيال and Jonah in Arabic, يونس. For Arabic names to choose from, browse the Arabic boy names with their meanings, part of our Arabic vocabulary lists.
Write داود in more fonts and download it
Paste داود into the box below, or into our Arabic calligraphy generator, to draw it in 12 more fonts and save it as a PNG.
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Naskh the print style
Thuluth-style Naskh with Thuluth touches
Kufi angular, for logos and titles
Ruqah everyday handwriting
Nastaliq the hanging Persian and Urdu style
Kano West African reed-pen style
Poster bold display lettering
Nothing you type leaves your browser; the only thing fetched is the fonts, from Google Fonts. Want to type in these styles on your own computer? Download free Arabic fonts, with our pick for each style.
Frequently asked questions
What is David's name in the Quran?
The Quran calls him داود (Dāwud), prophet and king. He is named, for example, in 2:251, where he kills Goliath. Arab Christians use the same name for King David.
Is ديفيد correct for David?
Yes, for an English speaker called David. ديفيد spells the English sound, and Arabic Wikipedia uses it for David Bowie, David Beckham and David Hockney. For the Arabic name, use داود.
What does the name David mean?
David means beloved, or possibly uncle. It is Hebrew, from dod, beloved.
Which spelling of David should I use for a tattoo?
For the Arabic name, use داود. The letters dāl, alif and wāw never join the letter after them, so the three small gaps are correct. For the English name as English speakers say it, use ديفيد. Paste either into the Arabic tattoo checker on this site before the stencil is made.