Douglas
Masculine · “the dark water”
Douglas is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 560,013 boys against 2,073 girls since 1880. See Douglas as a girl name
The family that made this name did one thing that nobody has ever forgotten. A dying king asked that his heart be taken to Jerusalem; the knight who took it got as far as Spain, found himself surrounded, threw the casket ahead of him into the enemy and rode after it. The family arms have carried a crowned heart ever since.
How old is the name Douglas?
Douglas was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Douglas alive today was born around 1960, making them about 65 years old. About 399,000 people named Douglas are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Douglas most popular?
Douglas peaked in 1942, reaching #23 nationally. Today it ranks #807, 784 places below that high. See the whole 1942 chart.
Where it comes from
From dubh glas to Douglas
The story of Douglas
The tree is a separate and rather good story. The Douglas fir is not a fir. It is not a pine, a spruce or a hemlock either, though it has been classified as all four at different times, and it eventually had to be given a genus of its own — a name that translates as false hemlock, attached to a species name meaning yew-leaved. So the full botanical name of one of the most commercially important trees on earth means, roughly, the yew-leaved false hemlock, and the common name attaches to a Scottish plant collector who sent the seed home and was killed in Hawaii at thirty-five by a bull in a pit trap.
Meaning
the dark water
Two Gaelic elements, one meaning dark or black and one meaning a stream or water. Several watercourses in Scotland and Ireland carry the name, which is why the surname is territorial rather than descriptive of a person.
How the name formed
- dubh glas
- Douglas
Pronouncing Douglas
DUG-lus
Two syllables with the stress at the front and the second reduced. The spelling is unambiguous and the name is never mispronounced.
Nicknames for Douglas
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 195716,730 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #23reached in 1942
- Change vs 2022
- +2.7%308 in 2025, from 300
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Douglas in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, New York.
Douglass among us
people named Douglas are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 5,546 born in 2025 was named Douglas
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Howard test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Douglas's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Howard climbed just as high around 1919, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Howard's path sketches the road Douglas is walking now.
Douglas has held the top-100 across 6 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Douglas is headed
Douglas should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Douglas beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Douglas in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Doug is a short form that works in any register and at any age.
- It has been in continuous use for the whole length of the record.
- The meaning is concrete and easy to explain to a child.
- Its peak generation is far enough back to date the name to most ears.
- Douglass with two s's is a separate and significant spelling.
- The record holds girls as well, and the girl is much the smaller side.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Douglas to the vote.
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What they receive
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Douglas
Masculine · #807 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Douglass are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 399,000 people named Douglas are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Douglas in 2025?
- Douglas ranks #807 among US boy names in 2025, with 308 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Douglas?
- About 1 in every 5,546 US boys born in 2025 was named Douglas — 308 in all.
- Will my child share the name Douglas with classmates?
- Douglas will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Douglas
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lennon#807 · Azai#809 · Mccoy#805 · Dilan#805 · Brewer#804 · Rohan#810 · Ty#810 · Brock#810
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Douglas? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Douglas and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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