Famous Daves: the most notable people called Dave and David

There are so many famous Daves (about 3.7 million Davids have been born in the US alone; here are the numbers) that any list will leave someone out. If yours is missing, it's not personal; it's a numbers problem. Here are the Daves we think every Dave should know, grouped by what they're famous for.

Famous Daves in music

• David Bowie (1947–2016) was born David Robert Jones. He changed his surname to avoid confusion with Davy Jones of the Monkees, which makes him the rare Dave with too many Daves around him.
• Dave Grohl drummed for Nirvana, then founded Foo Fighters. He recorded the band's first album in about a week in 1994, playing almost every instrument himself.
• David Byrne was the frontman of Talking Heads and is famous for the very big suit.
• David Gilmour is the guitarist and singer of Pink Floyd.
• Dave Brubeck (1920–2012) was the jazz pianist whose 1959 album Time Out includes "Take Five".
• Dave is the British rapper whose debut album Psychodrama won the Mercury Prize in 2019. He's one of the few people famous enough to be known simply as Dave.

Famous Daves on TV and film

• David Attenborough has presented nature programmes since Zoo Quest in 1954, including Life on Earth, Planet Earth and Blue Planet.
• David Tennant was born David McDonald and took his stage name from Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys. He's best known as the Tenth Doctor in Doctor Who.
• David Letterman hosted Late Show with David Letterman from 1993 to 2015.
• Dave Chappelle is the comedian behind Chappelle's Show, which started in 2003.
• David Lynch (1946–2025) was the director of Twin Peaks and Mulholland Drive.
• David Schwimmer played Ross Geller in Friends.

Famous Daves in art and sport

• David Hockney is one of Britain's most celebrated painters, known for his California swimming pools.
• David Beckham is the footballer whose free kicks gave the 2002 film Bend It Like Beckham its title.

Buying for a Dave who loves any of these? Our gift guide for Daves has a section for music Daves, nature Daves and culture Daves.

Famous Daves in history

• King David of Israel is the original Dave, who beat Goliath with a sling. See what the name Dave means.
• Saint David is the patron saint of Wales, celebrated on 1 March. See our guide to St David's Day.
• Davy Crockett (1786–1836) was an American frontiersman and congressman, and proof that Davy was a popular nickname long before Dave.

Famous fictional Daves

• Dave Bowman is the astronaut in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), on the receiving end of the most famous line ever said to a Dave: "I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that."
• Dave Lister is the last human alive in the sitcom Red Dwarf, which began in 1988.
• Dave Kovic is the ordinary man who stands in for the US President in the film Dave (1993).

The most famous Dave of all

Our vote goes to a statue. Michelangelo's David was carved from a single block of marble between 1501 and 1504. It's 5.17 metres tall, stands in the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence, and is seen by more than a million people a year. It's the tallest Dave on record, and also the least dressed.

Honourable mention: Larry David

The co-creator of Seinfeld and star of Curb Your Enthusiasm is technically not a Dave, because David is his surname. Under Article 4 of the bylaws he has observer status, pending a full hearing.