For Davis or Davies, 戴 Dài is the clearest starting point: it keeps the first character of the established Chinese transcription 戴维斯 Dàiwéisī. 代 Dài gives you the same Mandarin sound in a different, simpler character. If the older meaning behind David matters more to you than the sound of your surname, 爱 Ài, traditionally 愛, offers a meaning-led alternative connected with love and being cherished.
All three are attested Chinese surnames. The useful question is which connection you want to explain when someone asks how you chose yours.
What changes if you spell it Davis?
Davis is also commonly pronounced /ˈdeɪvɪs/: Dictionary.com prints that pronunciation in both its American and British entries. The opening /deɪ/ leads to the same approximate Dài comparison. A different family pronunciation should still take priority; the two written surnames do not force every bearer to sound identical.
Davis has its own Chinese transcription evidence. The Hong Kong Philharmonic’s bilingual programme pairs DAVIS with 戴維斯, the traditional form of 戴维斯. This verifies an actual use for the spelling Davis, independently of the Davies example below. It does not borrow a musician’s personality or achievements for your name.
The Davis entry in the Dictionary of American Family Names, reproduced by Ancestry, explains an English and Welsh patronymic connection to Dafydd/David, while also recording other adoption histories. That supports the same conditional route through David’s traditional “beloved” interpretation; it does not establish your particular family’s history.
For this naming decision, Davis and Davies therefore share the comparison below: 戴 retains the attested first character, 代 changes only the Chinese writing, and 爱 chooses an indirect older meaning instead of sound. Keep your own English spelling. Sharing a Chinese-name guide neither merges family lineages nor makes one spelling a correction of the other.
Start with the Davies you actually say
Cambridge gives the British pronunciation of Davies as /ˈdeɪ.vɪs/, like “DAY-viss”, and also records /ˈdeɪ.viːz/ for American English. Your own family's pronunciation should take priority over a geographical label. Both begin with /deɪ/, which is the part these Dai options retain approximately. 1
Chinese 戴维斯 is an established way to write Davies. For example, the British government's Chinese-language reporting identifies Sally Davies as 萨莉·戴维斯. This verifies the spelling; you do not need to share that person's profession or admire her to use it. 2
The full transcription represents the foreign surname over three syllables. Choosing 戴 on its own does something different: it gives you a one-syllable Chinese family name, leaving room for a separate given name. You can keep using Davies in English. If you simply need your existing surname written in Chinese, keeping the complete 戴维斯 is also a reasonable answer.
Dài is not an exact copy of English “day”. Its vowel is closer to an “eye” sequence, and its fourth tone falls. The pinyin letter d also represents a Mandarin sound rather than an instruction to reproduce English d exactly. The attraction is a recognisable transcription link, not a perfect acoustic match.
Dai has two genuine surname options
戴 Dài is explicitly listed as a surname in the Ministry of Education's dictionary, with historical examples. The character also occurs in ordinary words about wearing something and in words about supporting or esteeming someone. Those dictionary senses are not an explanation of the origin of Davies. Here, the reason for choosing 戴 is its place at the start of 戴维斯. 3
代 Dài is independently attested as a surname in the same dictionary. It has the same Mandarin syllable and tone as 戴. Its everyday meanings include replacing, succeeding and a generation or period. 4
The choice is therefore mainly visual and practical. 戴 preserves the actual character in the established transcription. 代 is substantially simpler to write, but you lose that direct written match. Neither gives you a closer Mandarin pronunciation than the other, because both are Dài.
I would choose 戴 unless you have a clear preference for 代 in your complete name. If you do prefer 代, describe it as a same-sound alternative. The character's association with generations can be personally appealing, but it does not make 代 a translation of the patronymic ending in Davies, or establish a shared origin between the two surnames.
What the older meaning can offer
Davies is a patronymic surname. The *Dictionary of American Family Names* describes it as a Welsh and English variant of Davis, equivalent to Welsh *ap Dafydd*, “Dafydd's son”, with a probable influence from the name Davy. This explains a historical naming relationship, rather than the occupation or personality of everyone called Davies today. 5
The David entry in the same dictionary gives the traditional interpretation “beloved” for the underlying Hebrew personal name. That creates a possible meaning route, but it takes two steps: Davies points to David, and David supplies the older personal-name meaning. Davies does not simply translate as the Chinese word for love. 6
爱 Ài is worth considering on this basis. It is not merely a pleasant character borrowed for a given name. The Chinese dictionary explicitly records its surname use, and its vocabulary includes affection, a loved person or thing, and being cherished. 7
Choosing 爱 foregrounds that emotional meaning. It drops the opening d and the rest of Davies, so it is a semantic choice rather than a close sound match. It also leaves the “son of” relationship untranslated. You are carrying forward an idea from the older name, not rewriting the whole family history in one character.
There is a practical trade-off. 爱 is also an everyday verb, so in an unfamiliar full name it can initially be read as “love” rather than recognised as the family name. Introduce the surname explicitly and test it with the given name you intend to use. If you would rather keep a straightforward link to the written Davies transcription, 戴 remains my preference.
A historical name does not require a borrowed ancestor
The patronymic background does not give you a particular Chinese lineage to adopt. Nor does the biblical history of David require a Chinese royal or religious surname. Those would add claims or associations that Davies alone cannot support.
For this surname, I would not make an ancient Chinese figure a third recommended route. The sound of 戴 and the affectionate meaning of 爱 already provide two specific, explainable connections. A personal interest in a Chinese historical figure could still matter to your own choice, but it would be additional information about you, not something deduced from Davies.
Try explaining each choice aloud
For 戴, you can say “我姓戴，戴维斯的戴”: “My surname is Dài, the first character in Dàiwéisī.” For 代, “我姓代，时代的代” identifies the character through 时代, “era”. For 爱, “我姓爱，爱心的爱” makes clear that the character in 爱心 is being used as your surname.
Then try the chosen surname before your Chinese given name. 戴 and 代 will sound identical in Mandarin; 爱 changes the start of the name while keeping a falling tone. Compare the written forms as well as the spoken result.
My recommendation is 戴 Dài for the strongest connection to Davis or Davies as already written in Chinese, 代 Dài if its simpler character genuinely suits you better, and 爱 Ài if the older “beloved” association is what you want to keep. You do not need to preserve every part of either surname. You do need an honest explanation of the part you chose.
