boy's name
Douglas
DUG-lus
- Origin Scottish Gaelic
- Gender Boy
- Syllables 2
- Letters 7
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 574,408
the United States
#807
2025 births
Douglas is a boy's name from the Scottish Gaelic for dark water, originally a river and then a powerful border family. It ranks 225th in England and Wales against 807th in the United States, so it is holding far better in Britain than in America.
- Douglas is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin.
- Peaked in 1957, when 16,765 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 10,764 babies in the United States is given this name.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Douglas over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1880s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 334 |
| 1890s | 585 |
| 1900s | 960 |
| 1910s | 7,022 |
| 1920s | 17,486 |
| 1930s | 26,183 |
| 1940s | 81,000 |
| 1950s | 148,503 |
| 1960s | 135,413 |
| 1970s | 65,471 |
| 1980s | 42,024 |
| 1990s | 22,022 |
| 2000s | 8,667 |
| 2010s | 4,487 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 1,929 |
What Douglas means
Douglas means dark water, or dark stream. The Gaelic joins the word for black or dark to one for a stream, and it named a river before it named anyone.
Where Douglas comes from
Douglas is the Gaelic dubh glas, dark water — a river in Lanarkshire, from which the lands and then the family took their name. The Black Douglases were among the most formidable families in medieval Scotland, so powerful that the crown murdered two of them at dinner in Edinburgh Castle in 1440. Sir James Douglas carried Robert the Bruce's heart toward Jerusalem and died fighting in Spain with it in a casket around his neck, which is why the Douglas arms bear a crowned heart. The transfer from surname to given name is nineteenth-century and, unusually for a Scottish name, became far more common outside Scotland than within it.
Douglas in use
Douglas peaked in the United States in 1957, when 16,765 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. It now ranks 225th in England and Wales on 222 births, 296th in Scotland on 13 and 807th in the United States on 308, across 574,408 lifetime births in four of the seven markets we track. Ranking nearly six hundred places higher in England and Wales than in America is unusual for a name whose lifetime volume is overwhelmingly American.
How popular is Douglas?
In 2025, Douglas was given to 308 babies in the United States, ranking #807 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Douglas is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Douglas
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Douglas also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Douglas over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
2 nicknames for Douglas
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Douglas in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Douglas
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Douglas — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Douglas
What does the name Douglas mean?
Dark water — the Gaelic dubh glas, originally the name of a river in Lanarkshire.
Is Douglas a Scottish name?
Yes, from a river and then one of the most powerful families in medieval Scotland.
Why do the Douglas arms show a heart?
Sir James Douglas carried Robert the Bruce's heart toward Jerusalem and died with it in Spain.
How popular is Douglas?
225th in England and Wales and 807th in the United States.
Is Douglas a girl's or a boy's name?
Douglas is given almost entirely to boys in birth records.
How many syllables are in Douglas?
Douglas has 2 syllables.
What are the nicknames for Douglas?
Douglas is usually shortened to Doug and Dougie.
Is Douglas a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Douglas currently ranks #225 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.