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Updated March 7, 2024

Table of contents

Boy name origins & meanings

  • Hebrew : Bear

Boy name variations

Family name origins & meanings

  • English : from Middle English dove, Old English dūfe ‘dove’ (or perhaps occasionally from the Old Norse cognate dúfa), applied as a nickname for a mild and gentle person or as a metonymic occupational name for a keeper of doves. The Old English word was used as a personal name for either sex in the early Middle English period, and the surname at least in part derives from this use.
  • Scottish : translation of Mac Calmáin (see Coleman 1).
  • Scottish : variant of Duff.
  • North German : nickname for a deaf or dull man, Middle Low German dōf.
  • David James Dove was born about 1696 in Portsmouth, England, where his father was a tailor. He arrived with his wife in Philadelphia in 1750 and in 1751 opened an academy for young ladies. He was the first person in PA who attempted to supply higher education for women.

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