← Surname Means
Parent’s name

Davis

Son of David (Welsh Dafydd) — a patronymic; a minority account links some lines to Dyfed.

Confidence
Likely
US frequency
Rank 9 · 1,074,448 people
Common variants
Davies, Davison

Confidence: Likely. The main story is well supported; some details of the deeper root are less certain.

The short story

Davis usually means "son of David," with the Welsh form Dafydd standing behind many British Isles lines. In Wales the older style was ap Dafydd—"Dafydd's son"—which settled into Davis and the cousin spelling Davies as fixed surnames.

Wikipedia also notes a minority story that some early forms corrupt Dyfed, an old regional name. That is why this page stays at likely rather than high: the everyday family meaning is still the David patronymic, but origin stories are not identical for every line. Either way, it is a parent's-name surname, not a trade or a hillside.

Also seen as: Davies, Davison

Sources used