The Mystery of David's Name
For years now I've been acutely aware that though King David is a very impressive and inspiring person, the meaning of his name still eludes me. So far, I've gathered a few options, but none of these are perfect. David is a short-form of Dodyahu. This is suggested by Da'at Mikra. A side problem with this is the question of why David's parents would prefer a short-form and not the full name. But I suppose that could be rectified if one would understand the name-choices of that era. A bigger problem would be that the letter Vav in David is a root-letter, making that actual Vah sound, rather than being a vowel letter, that are there simply to make the Oh or Oo sound, such as in Dodyahu. There are a few other such names in Tanach. The two that come to mind at the moment are Vafsi and Hodvayahu. Like David, I'm not entirely sure what their names mean. Hodvayahu is a bit easier, being clearly a mashup of Hod and Hashem's name. But the Vav in the middle is a mystery....