Famous Daves and Davids
0Loading crowd target
0Loading crowd target
7correct to beat the crowd
50 free Famous Daves and Davids trivia questions with answers — pop culture quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Dave may be the friendliest name in English, and a remarkable number of famous people answer to it. There are Daves who drum, Daves who tell jokes, Daves who wrestle and Daves who flip burgers for a living. Go formal and the list grows longer still: David has been carried by a biblical king, British prime ministers, film directors, footballers and some of the biggest names in rock. This quiz covers both. Many questions name a famous Dave or David and ask what he did, on stage, on screen, on the field or in office. Others cover fictional Daves from films and cartoons, people better known as Davy, and the artworks, places and symbols that carry the name. It suits a themed pub quiz round, a birthday quiz for the Dave in your life, or anyone who likes general knowledge with a twist. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you learn something even when you guess wrong.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which fast-food chain did Dave Thomas open in Columbus, Ohio, in 1969?
Wendy's
Wendy's took its name from the nickname of eight-year-old Melinda Lou Thomas, and her father later wrote that he regretted costing her some of her privacy.
Q 02David Bowie, born David Jones, changed his surname in the 1960s to avoid confusion with a singer in which band?
The Monkees
The Monkees already had a Davy Jones, so the future star borrowed the surname of American pioneer James Bowie, the man behind the Bowie knife.
Q 03Dave Grohl, who started Foo Fighters as a one-man project, first became famous as the drummer of which grunge band?
Nirvana
Nirvana ended after Kurt Cobain's death in 1994, and Grohl then recorded the first Foo Fighters album almost alone, playing nearly every instrument himself.
Q 04Which artist carved the 17-foot marble David that has stood in Florence's Accademia Gallery since 1873?
Michelangelo
Michelangelo was 26 when he won the commission, and his David stood outdoors in a Florence square for more than three centuries before it was moved inside.
Q 05A 2016 public poll to name the polar ship later christened RRS Sir David Attenborough was won by which name?
Boaty McBoatface
Boaty McBoatface, a radio presenter's joke entry, won with 124,109 votes, but officials overruled the poll and gave the name to one of the ship's robot submarines.
Q 06In the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, which ship's computer refuses to let astronaut Dave Bowman back aboard?
HAL 9000
HAL 9000 was voiced by actor Douglas Rain, and it sings the old song Daisy Bell as Bowman disconnects its memory.
Q 07Dave Matthews, whose band formed in Virginia in 1991, was born in which country?
South Africa
South Africa is where he was born, in Johannesburg, and his family moved between there, Britain and the United States while he was growing up.
Q 08Illusionist David Copperfield, born David Kotkin, made which American landmark seem to vanish on television in 1983?
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty seemed to disappear behind a giant curtain raised in front of a seated audience on Liberty Island, then reappeared when it was lowered again.
Q 09Dave Seville is the human father of Alvin, Simon and Theodore, a singing cartoon trio of which animals?
Chipmunks
Chipmunks Alvin, Simon and Theodore were each named after an executive at Liberty Records, the label that released their 1958 Christmas hit.
Q 10Former WWE champion Dave Bautista plays which hero in Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy films?
Drax
Drax made Bautista a film star in 2014, after a wrestling career in which his first World Heavyweight Championship reign lasted a record 282 days.
Q 11David Beckham left Manchester United in 2003, after a deal with Barcelona fell through, to join which Spanish team?
Real Madrid
Real Madrid's number 7 shirt already belonged to captain Raúl, so Beckham took 23, the number worn by his basketball hero Michael Jordan.
Q 12David Schwimmer directed ten episodes of the sitcom Friends while playing which character?
Ross Geller
Ross Geller was written with Schwimmer's voice in mind, which made him the first of the six leads to be cast.
Q 13In the 1980s series Knight Rider, David Hasselhoff's hero drove which artificially intelligent Pontiac Trans Am?
KITT
KITT stood for Knight Industries Two Thousand, and the car's voice belonged to actor William Daniels.
Q 21David Tennant starred from 2005 to 2010 as the tenth incarnation of the title hero in which BBC science-fiction series?
Doctor Who
Doctor Who was his obsession from the age of three, and he acts under a stage name because another David McDonald was already registered as an actor.
Q 22In The X-Files, David Duchovny played which FBI agent driven by the unexplained disappearance of his sister?
Fox Mulder
Fox Mulder brought Duchovny a Golden Globe, and before acting he had earned English literature degrees from both Princeton and Yale.
Q 23David Harbour plays police chief Jim Hopper in which Netflix series set in 1980s Hawkins, Indiana?
Stranger Things
Q 14Dave Chappelle's hit sketch show, which he quit while making its third season, aired on which cable channel?
Comedy Central
Comedy Central's parent company had offered him a contract worth tens of millions of dollars for two more years, but he quit and left the third season unfinished.
Q 15In the Bible, young shepherd David turns down King Saul's armor and fells the giant Goliath with which weapon?
A sling
A sling, a staff and five stones picked from a brook were all David carried, and he then beheaded the fallen giant with the giant's own sword.
Q 16David Letterman retired in 2015 after 22 years hosting the Late Show on CBS; which comedian took over the desk?
Stephen Colbert
Stephen Colbert was named a week after Letterman announced his retirement, which closed a run of 6,080 late-night episodes across NBC and CBS.
Q 17Famous Dave's, the restaurant chain Dave Anderson started in Hayward, Wisconsin, in 1994, specializes in which food?
Barbecue
Barbecue made a restaurateur of Dave Anderson, an Ojibwe-Choctaw businessman who later ran the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Q 18David Cameron resigned as British prime minister in 2016 after voters chose to leave which organization?
European Union
The European Union referendum was Cameron's own initiative, and he campaigned to stay; when the Leave side won, Theresa May replaced him.
Q 19Larry David, the star of Curb Your Enthusiasm, created which hit NBC sitcom with a stand-up comedian friend?
Seinfeld
Seinfeld drew on his own life: Kenny Kramer, his neighbor across the hall in Manhattan, inspired the character Cosmo Kramer.
Q 20Frontiersman Davy Crockett, born David Crockett, died in 1836 during the siege of which Texas mission?
The Alamo
The Alamo fell on March 6, 1836; before that he had represented Tennessee in Congress, where he opposed President Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal Act.
Stranger Things made Harbour a global name and earned him two Emmy nominations, playing the lawman of a small town beside a secret government laboratory.
Q 24Director David Lynch co-created which 1990 television mystery about the murder of teenager Laura Palmer?
Twin Peaks
Twin Peaks sends FBI agent Dale Cooper to a small town in the Pacific Northwest, and Lynch created it with the writer Mark Frost.
Q 25David Fincher directed which 2010 film, written by Aaron Sorkin, about a Harvard student's billion-dollar website?
The Social Network
The Social Network cast Jesse Eisenberg as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and was adapted from the book The Accidental Billionaires.
Q 26Dave Mustaine founded Megadeth after which metal band fired him in 1983 and put him on a bus home?
Metallica
Metallica dropped him in New York just before recording their debut album, and he scribbled ideas for his next band on the Greyhound ride to Los Angeles.
Q 27Guitarist David Gilmour joined which British rock band shortly before its troubled founder Syd Barrett left?
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd brought him in as a fifth member to cover for the erratic Barrett, and he later helped launch Kate Bush by paying for her early recordings.
Q 28David Byrne, who wore an absurdly oversized suit in the concert film Stop Making Sense, fronted which band?
Talking Heads
Talking Heads formed in New York in 1975, though their frontman was born in Dumbarton, Scotland, and moved to America as a child.
Q 29Dave Brubeck, whose quartet recorded the 1959 jazz standard Take Five, played which instrument?
Piano
Piano was Brubeck's instrument, but Take Five was written by his saxophonist, Paul Desmond, after the group's drummer challenged him to compose in five-four time.
Q 30Dave Coulier played stand-up comic Joey Gladstone, who helps a widowed friend raise three daughters, on which sitcom?
Full House
Full House moved Joey into the San Francisco home of sports anchor Danny Tanner, his best friend since childhood.