Duncan
A masculine name of Scottish origin meaning "dark warrior".
Name Census estimates that about 17,392 living Americans carry the first name Duncan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Duncan today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Duncan births was 1997 (644 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Duncan. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Duncan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
17K
~ 1 in 19,708 Americans
Peak year
1997
644 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,102
Tracked since 1880
Census
Duncan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 17,444 people with the first name Duncan, which placed it at #1,737 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
#1,737
National first-name rank
People counted
17K
17,444 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
5.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
83.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Duncan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Duncan is White at 83.3%. The next largest groups are Black (5.6%) and Two or More Races (5.2%). 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 Duncan 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 Duncan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White83.3% · 14,536
- Black or African American5.6% · 976
- Two or more races5.2% · 899
- Hispanic or Latino3.6% · 634
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 322
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 77
Gender
Gender distribution for Duncan
Out of the 21,043 babies given the name Duncan since 1880, 99.9% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Duncan as a male name
- Ranked #1,102 in 2024
- 194 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1997 (644 births)
Duncan as a female name
- Ranked #17,190 in 2015
- 5 female births in 2015
- Peak: 1996 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Duncan appears almost entirely male. Of the 17,445 people counted with this name, 99.4% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Duncan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Duncan from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 4,227 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Duncan 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 Duncan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Duncans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 47 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Duncan, while Wyoming, North Dakota, Hawaii recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 320 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Duncan
The name Duncan has its origins in the Scottish Gaelic language, deriving from the word "Donnchadh" which means "brown warrior" or "dark brown". It is composed of the elements "donn" meaning brown and "cath" meaning battle or warrior.
This name has been present in Scotland since ancient times and is believed to have been used by various Scottish clans and families for centuries. The earliest recorded instance of this name dates back to the 6th century, when it was borne by a Scottish king known as Duncan I, who reigned from 1034 to 1040.
In the realm of literature, the name Duncan gained significant prominence through its inclusion in William Shakespeare's famous play "Macbeth". In the play, Duncan is portrayed as the rightful and virtuous King of Scotland, who is ultimately betrayed and murdered by the ambitious Macbeth.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Duncan. One of the most famous was Duncan I, the King of Scotland mentioned earlier, who ascended to the throne after the death of his grandfather, King Malcolm II. Another prominent figure was Duncan II, who ruled as the King of Scots from 1094 to 1097.
Beyond the realm of royalty, other notable individuals with the name include Duncan Grant (1885-1978), a British artist and member of the Bloomsbury Group, and Duncan Jones (1971-present), a British film director known for directing movies such as "Moon" and "Warcraft".
Another famous bearer of this name was Duncan Hines (1880-1959), an American traveling salesman and restaurant entrepreneur who pioneered the concept of restaurant ratings and published a series of successful guidebooks for travelers seeking quality dining experiences.
It is worth noting that while the name Duncan has its roots in Scotland, it has since gained popularity and usage in various other parts of the world, particularly in English-speaking countries.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Duncan
People
Duncan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Duncan 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
Duncan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Duncan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 17,392 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Duncan 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 19,708 US residents.
Is Duncan a common name?
We classify Duncan as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 21,043 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Duncan most popular?
The single biggest year for Duncan was 1997, when 644 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Duncan is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Duncan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 17,444 people with the name Duncan, or 5.78 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,737 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 Duncan 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 Duncan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Duncan appears almost entirely male. Of the 17,445 people counted with this name, 99.4% 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 Duncan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Duncan is White at 83.3%. The next largest groups are Black (5.6%) and Two or More Races (5.2%). 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 Duncan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Duncan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.3% (14,536 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 Duncan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Duncan a male name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Duncan 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 Duncan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Duncan 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 Duncan 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 have Duncan as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Duncan, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.