Douglas (given name)

Douglas is a masculine given name which originated from the surname Douglas. Although today the name is almost exclusively given to boys, it was used as a girl's name in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in the north of England. The Scottish surname Douglas was borne by one of the most powerful families of the Kingdom of Scotland (the Earls of Douglas, Angus, Morton, Dukes of Hamilton and others). It has sometimes been stated that the given name is connected with the given name Dougal, although it is more likely derived from the surname already mentioned.

Linguistically, Douglas is derived from the Gaelic elements: dubh, meaning "dark, black"; and glas, meaning "stream" (also a derivative of glas, meaning "green"). The surname Douglas is a habitational name, which could be derived from any of the many places so-named. While there are numerous places with this name in both Ireland and Scotland, it is thought, in most cases, to refer to Douglas, South Lanarkshire, which was once the stronghold of Clan Douglas.

The Scottish Gaelic form of the given name is Dùghlas ; the Irish language forms are Dúghlas and Dubhghlas, which are pronounced. The Hawaiian language form of the given name is Koukalaka, which is pronounced ; a variant form of this name is Dougalasa. The given name Doug is a common short form variant of Douglas. Pet forms of the given name include Dougie and Duggie. In Scotland, while spelled Dougie like the above, there is a distinct Scottish pronunciation of "Doogie".

Notable people named Douglas

 * Douglas (footballer, born 1963) (William Douglas Humia Menezes), Brazilian footballer
 * Douglas (footballer, born 1982) (Douglas dos Santos), Brazilian footballer
 * Douglas (footballer, born March 1983) (Douglas Renato de Jesus), Brazilian footballer
 * Douglas (footballer, born December 1983) (Douglas David Fernandes), Brazilian footballer
 * Douglas (footballer, born 1985) (Douglas Marques dos Santos), Brazilian footballer
 * Douglas (footballer, born 1986) (Douglas de Oliveira), Brazilian footballer
 * Douglas (footballer, born 1987) (Dyanfres Douglas Chagas Matos), Brazilian footballer
 * Douglas (footballer, born 1988) (Douglas Franco Teixeira), Brazilian-Dutch footballer
 * Douglas (footballer, born April 1990) (Douglas Silva Bacelar), Brazilian footballer
 * Douglas (footballer, born August 1990) (Douglas Pereira dos Santos), Brazilian footballer
 * Douglas (footballer, born 1995) (Douglas Matheus do Nascimento), Brazilian footballer
 * Douglas Abbott (1899–1987), Canadian politician
 * Douglas Adams (disambiguation), several people
 * Douglas Alexander (born 1967), Scottish politician
 * Doug Allen (disambiguation), several people
 * Douglas A. Anderson (born 1959), American author
 * Douglas Applegate (1928–2021), American politician
 * Douglas Bader, British flying ace
 * Douglas Baker (disambiguation), several people
 * Douglas Barr, American actor
 * Doug Belden, American football player
 * Douglas Booth, British actor
 * Douglas Brinkley, American author
 * Douglas Bruce (disambiguation), several people
 * Douglas Burke (disambiguation), several people
 * Douglas Carswell, British politician, first elected MP for the UK Independence Party
 * Douglas Chandor (1897–1953), British-born portrait painter and garden designer
 * Douglas Costa, Brazilian footballer
 * Douglas Coupland, Canadian novelist
 * Douglas Cox (disambiguation), several people
 * Douglas DeMuro, American automotive journalist
 * Douglas Devananda (born 1957), Sri Lankan Tamil Cabinet minister, originally a militant of the separatist Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front
 * Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 8th Duke of Hamilton, 18th-century Scottish peer
 * Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of Hamilton, pioneering aviator
 * Douglas Eggers, American football player
 * Doug Emhoff (born 1964), American lawyer and husband of U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris
 * Douglas Engelbart (1925–2013), American inventor and computer pioneer
 * Douglas Everett (disambiguation), several people
 * Douglas Fairbanks, American actor
 * Douglas Fairbanks Jr., American actor and son of Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford
 * Douglas Ford (disambiguation), several people
 * Douglas Frenkel, American professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School
 * Douglas H. Ginsburg, American judge
 * Douglas Graham, several people
 * Douglas Gresham, American-British actor, biographer and producer
 * Doug Grimston, Canadian ice hockey administrator
 * Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, British Field marshal
 * Douglas Haig (actor) (1920–2011), American actor
 * Douglas Hamilton (disambiguation), several people
 * Douglas Hartree, English mathematician and physicist
 * Douglas A. Hicks, American author
 * Douglas Hodge (born 1960), English actor, director and musician
 * Douglas Hodge (businessman) (born 1957), American businessman
 * Douglas Hofstadter, American author and professor of cognitive science
 * Douglas Horne (born 1966), Canadian politician
 * Douglas Hyde, Irish academic and politician, first president of Ireland
 * Douglas Hyde (author), English political journalist and author
 * Doug Ingle (1945-2024), American singer, organist, and founding member of Iron Butterfly
 * Douglas Johnson (disambiguation), several people
 * Doug Jones (disambiguation), several people
 * Douglas Harriman Kennedy (born 1967), American journalist
 * Douglas St. Clive Budd Jansze, Attorney General of Sri Lanka from 1957 to 1966
 * Douglas Júnior, Kazakhstani futsal player
 * Douglas Forsythe Kelley (1928–2021), American industrial designer
 * Douglas Lawrence, Australian organist
 * Doug Lawrence (disambiguation), several people
 * Douglas Liyanage, Sri Lankan Sinhala civil servant
 * Douglas Lowe (athlete), British athlete
 * Douglas Lowe (RAF officer) (1922–2018), British air chief marshal
 * Douglas Lubahn (1947–2019), American bassist
 * Douglas MacArthur, American general
 * Douglas MacArthur II (1909–1997), American diplomat
 * Douglas Hastings Macarthur (1839–1892), New Zealand politician
 * Douglas Macgregor (disambiguation), several people
 * Doug Martsch, American guitarist and vocalist of indie rock band Built to Spill
 * Douglas Francis McArthur (born 1943), Canadian politician and university professor
 * Doug McFarland, American politician
 * Douglas Mitchell (disambiguation), several people
 * Douglas Moore (disambiguation), several people
 * Douglas Albert Munro, American armed forces member
 * Doug Nordquist, American high jumper
 * Douglas Parker (born 1963), American dramatist and playwright
 * Douglas H. Parker (1926–2019), American law school professor
 * Douglas L. Parker, American attorney and government official
 * Douglas Parkhill, Canadian computer scientist and civil servant
 * Doug Pederson, American football coach
 * Douglas Peterson (disambiguation), several people
 * Douglas Polk, American professional poker player
 * Douglas Ranasinghe (born 1945), Sri Lankan Sinhala actor
 * Douglas Robb (disambiguation), several people
 * Douglas Roberts (disambiguation), several people
 * Dougal Robertson (1924–1991), Scottish author and sailor
 * Douglas Rodrigues (disambiguation), several people
 * Douglas A. Ross, American political scientist
 * Douglas Santos (disambiguation), several people
 * Douglas Saunders, Jamaican politician
 * Douglas Silva (disambiguation), several people
 * Douglas Simpson, Scottish field hockey forward
 * Doug Stanhope, American stand-up comedian and author
 * Douglas Trevor, American author and academic
 * Douglas Walatara (1920–2011), Sri Lankan educationist
 * Douglas H. Wheelock, American astronaut
 * Douglas Whyte (born 1971),former horse racing jockey and current horse trainer
 * Douglas Wreden (born 1991), American YouTube personality who goes by the name DougDoug