Dato
A trimmed form of David, the Hebrew name that settled into Slavic speech and kept its old sense of the loved one, in Polish umiłowany. Most Poles will never meet one: only a couple hundred men carry it, and it goes to no newborns now.
Dato Pronunciation
Dato is pronounced DAH-to (/ˈdatɔ/).
What Dato means
Where Dato comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Dato comes down to us from David, a Hebrew name that travelled into Slavic speech and stayed. The meaning attached to it is "beloved," in Polish umiłowany, and that reading follows David's own root, where the word means "beloved one." The name has been trimmed to a single short shape.
David gave Europe a long line of forms, from Dawid in Poland to Davit further east, and Dato sits among the shortened, affectionate ones. The sense of "beloved" was carried over from the fuller name rather than built fresh. Two syllables. Easy to call across a room.
On a Polish class register, Dato would stand out beside a row of Dawids and Dominiks, shorter than either. The name asks for no long spelling. It ends where David's meaning began, in the word for beloved, umiłowany.
How many people are named Dato
1 in 83059 men in Poland is named Dato. 257 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #1917 among male names.