Not every person likes to have a nickname or to be called with a different variation of their name. One of these people is the Pink Floyd guitarist and singer David Gilmour, who doesn’t like to be called “Dave”. In interviews over the years, the legendary musician that is considered one of the best of all time, explained why he doesn’t see himself as “Dave”.
Why David Gilmour doesn’t like be called “Dave”:
His real name is David Jon Gilmour and in an interview with Q magazine back in 2006, the musician said that he never liked to be called “Dave” and never used this variation of his name. “I’ve never liked it and I’ve never used it. Some people seem to think that I’ve changed it. But you can’t find a Pink Floyd record, going back to 1968, where I’ve used Dave. I love the name David. I hate the name Dave, I don’t feel like a Dave,” David Gilmour said.
His father was Douglas Gilmour, a senior lecturer in zoology at Cambridge University. His mom Sylvia (née Wilson), was trained as a teacher but later worked as a film editor for BBC.
Pink Floyd keyboardist Richard Wright used to call him Dave
Although he doesn’t like to be called “Dave”, the late legendary Pink Floyd co-founder and keyboardist Richard Wright used to call him like that many times in interviews when he was saying something about his bandmate. In an interview with John Edginton back in 2001 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage), for example, he called him Dave multiple times.
“‘Dark Side of The Moon’ was (the one) we were working on together. Now, I always believed that’s the best Floyd music. When it was a combination of Dave, me and Roger, let’s say the three of us writing together. Obviously there’s individual songs which I didn’t write or Dave didn’t write. But basically just being in the studio playing together,” Richard Wright said.