boy’s name
David in Chinese
大卫
dà wèi · traditional 大衛
David is usually written 大卫 in Chinese, pronounced dà wèi. You may also see 戴维 (dài wéi). It is a transliteration: the characters are chosen to sound like David, not for their meaning.
Character by character
| Character | Pinyin | Tone | Meaning | Traditional |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 大 | dà | fourth (falling) tone | big, great, vast, large, high | 大 |
| 卫 | wèi | fourth (falling) tone | guard, protect, defend | 衛 |
Other spelling: 戴维 (dài wéi) — 戴 wear on top; support · 维 maintain, preserve, safeguard
Readings and meanings come from the Unicode Han Database (Unihan). In a transliterated name, the meanings of the characters are not read as a sentence.
Questions about David in Chinese
How do you write David in Chinese?
David is usually written 大卫 in Chinese, pronounced dà wèi. You may also see 戴维 (dài wéi). It is a transliteration: the characters are chosen to sound like David, not for their meaning.
How do you pronounce 大卫?
大卫 is pronounced dà wèi: dà in the fourth (falling) tone and wèi in the fourth (falling) tone.
How do you write David in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, it is written 大衛.
Is 大卫 a real Chinese name?
It is the usual way Chinese newspapers and books write the foreign name David, so Chinese readers will recognise it as a foreign name. If you would like a name that looks Chinese, our free generator also suggests names chosen for their meaning.
How do Chinese transliterations work? Read how we choose your Chinese name.