David Nelson or Dave Nelson may refer to:
- Dave Nelson (born 1944), American baseball player and sportscaster
- Dave Nelson (skateboarder) (born 1978), American skateboarder
- Dave Nelson, basketball player for the Canberra Cannons in the Australian National Basketball League
- Dave Nelson, character in NewsRadio sitcom, played by Dave Foley
- Dave Nelson, guitarist with Nektar
- David Aldrich Nelson (1932–2010), American jurist
- David D. Nelson, United States Ambassador to Uruguay, 2009–2011
- David M. Nelson (1920–1991), American football coach
- David Nelson (actor) (1936–2011), American actor, director and producer
- David Nelson (American football) (born 1986), American football wide receiver
- David Nelson (botanical collector) (died 1789), British botanical collector, crewmember of HMS Bounty
- David Nelson (footballer) (1918–1988), Scottish professional footballer
- David Nelson (electronic sports player) (born 1974), American electronic sports player
- David Nelson (musician) (born 1943), American guitarist and musician
- David Nelson (poet), original member of The Last Poets
- David Nelson (politician) (born 1941), American politician
- David Nelson (software developer) (born 1993), software developer
- David Nelson (Utah activist) (born 1962), American activist for the protection of equal rights for LGBT people
- David Nelson (VC) (1886–1918), Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross
- David Nelson, inventor of the current-feedback operational amplifier
- David Nelson, principal of Sir Wilfred Grenfell Elementary School
- David Nelson, U.S. playing name of David Stergakos (born 1956), Greek-American basketball player
- David Robert Nelson (born 1951), American physicist; professor of biophysics at Harvard University
- David Sutherland Nelson (1933–1998), American jurist
- Dr. David Nelson, character in the South Park episode "With Apologies to Jesse Jackson"
Famous quotes containing the words david and/or nelson:
“It might be seen by what tenure men held the earth. The smallest stream is mediterranean sea, a smaller ocean creek within the land, where men may steer by their farm bounds and cottage lights. For my own part, but for the geographers, I should hardly have known how large a portion of our globe is water, my life has chiefly passed within so deep a cove. Yet I have sometimes ventured as far as to the mouth of my Snug Harbor.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The victors and the vanquished then the storm it tossed and tore,
As hard they strove, those worn-out men, upon that surly shore;
Dead Nelson and his half-dead crew, his foes from near and far,
Were rolled together on the deep that night at Trafalgar!”
—Thomas Hardy (1840–1928)