His name is Sovathdy, and I was wondering if this could have been a Khmer word, and what it means...

I sort of got the impression that his name is really just the Khmer transliteration of Sawatdee, which in turn has been transliterated into English. He was born in Khao I Dang so my theory may not be totally wrong. lol.

You're right, "Sawatdee" in thai mean "Sousdey"

I think this is the same word as in Sovath, except that it's pronounce all the way.

In my dictionary there is Sowatthi (សុវត្ថិ) or Suvatthi in Pali I guess. Maybe this is where your friend's name come from, even though it's not exactly the same. But then I know that some Khmer names change the ending slightly to make it sound different. Like this one family I knew, all their daughters has the name Vann- used as a prefix. So there could be Vannary, Vandy, Vanntha, Vanna, etc.

^ aii okay thanks i just thought it was funny its not funny anymore

why do traditonal cambodian families like to do that? i know a chan family and a van family lol ....