Duglas
A Scottish masculine name derived from the Gaelic elements "dubh" (dark) and "glas" (stream).
Name Census estimates that about 109 living Americans carry the first name Duglas. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Duglas today is around 45 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Duglas births was 1942 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Duglas. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
109
~ 1 in 3,144,535 Americans
Peak year
1942
13 babies that year
Average age
45
years old
2022 SSA rank
#12,856
Tracked since 1915
Census
Duglas in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 642 people with the first name Duglas, which placed it at #17,263 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#17,263
National first-name rank
People counted
642
642 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
81.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Duglas
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Duglas is Hispanic at 81.8%. The next largest groups are White (15.3%) and Black (2.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Duglas described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Duglas at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino81.8% · 525
- White15.3% · 98
- Black or African American2.0% · 13
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 1
- Two or more races0.2% · 1
Popularity
Duglas: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Duglas from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 59 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Duglas by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Duglas during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Duglas' live
Origin
Meaning and history of Duglas
The name Duglas has its origins in the Scottish Gaelic language, derived from the elements "dubh" meaning "dark" or "black" and "glas" meaning "stream" or "water." It dates back to the medieval period and was initially a descriptive term used to refer to a dark or muddy stream or body of water.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Duglas can be found in the 12th century, when it appeared as a territorial surname referring to the lands of Douglas in Lanarkshire, Scotland. The Douglas family played a prominent role in Scottish history, with notable figures such as Sir James Douglas, a companion of Robert the Bruce during the Scottish Wars of Independence in the early 14th century.
In the 15th century, the name Duglas gained popularity as a given name, particularly among Scottish nobility and families with ties to the Douglas clan. One famous bearer of the name was Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Angus (1449-1513), known as "Bell the Cat" for his role in the conspiracy against King James III.
As the name spread beyond Scotland, it underwent various spelling variations, including Douglas, Douglass, and Duglass. In England, the name Douglas was adopted by several prominent families, such as the Dukes of Hamilton and the Earls of Morton.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Duglas or its variants:
1. Sir James Douglas (c. 1286-1330), a Scottish knight and military leader during the Wars of Scottish Independence.
2. Gawin Douglas (c. 1474-1522), a Scottish poet and bishop, known for his translation of Virgil's Aeneid into Middle Scots.
3. Stephen A. Douglas (1813-1861), an American politician and U.S. Senator from Illinois, known for his debates with Abraham Lincoln.
4. Norman Douglas (1868-1952), a British writer and novelist, best known for his novel "South Wind."
5. Frederick Douglass (c. 1818-1895), an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, and statesman, who escaped from slavery and became a prominent leader in the abolitionist movement.
People
Duglas + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Duglas as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with D
Other first names starting with D with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Duglas: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Duglas?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 109 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Duglas going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 3,144,535 US residents.
Is Duglas a common name?
We classify Duglas as "Very Rare". It ranks above 65.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 207 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Duglas most popular?
The single biggest year for Duglas was 1942, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Duglas is about 45 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Duglas in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 642 people with the name Duglas, or 0.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,263 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Duglas in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Duglas?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Duglas appears almost entirely male. Of the 649 people counted with this name, 99.5% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Duglas?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Duglas is Hispanic at 81.8%. The next largest groups are White (15.3%) and Black (2.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Duglas most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Duglas in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.8% (525 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Duglas in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Duglas a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Duglas in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Duglas still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Duglas in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Duglas can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Duglas?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.