Douglas
Douglas was given to 308 boys in 2025, #807 among boys’ names; 562,086 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 381,000 Americans named Douglas and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (68% of everyone recorded); the median is 62 years old and half are between 51 and 70.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Douglas by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Douglas mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Douglas is “a male given name transferred from the surname.” Its etymology gives the senses “black” (dubh) and “stream” (glais).
From a place name, Scottish Gaelic dubh (“black”) + glais (“stream”).
/ˈdʌɡləs/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Douglas?
#807 among boys’ names, 2025
Douglas fell from #615 in 2015 to #807 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 0.23 to 0.18 per 1,000.
16,765 babies in 1957, the peak
Douglas peaked in 1957, when 16,765 babies were given it (16,730 boys, #30 among boys’ names). The 308 births of 2025 are 2% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 308 | #807 | 0.18 |
| 2024 | 286 | #848 | 0.17 |
| 2023 | 354 | #744 | 0.21 |
| 2022 | 300 | #827 | 0.17 |
| 2021 | 347 | #737 | 0.20 |
| 2020 | 334 | #737 | 0.19 |
| 2019 | 374 | #685 | 0.21 |
| 2018 | 373 | #673 | 0.21 |
| 2017 | 413 | #629 | 0.22 |
| 2016 | 447 | #603 | 0.24 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 437 | #615 | 0.23 |
| 2014 | 458 | #598 | 0.24 |
| 2013 | 492 | #541 | 0.26 |
| 2012 | 452 | #571 | 0.24 |
| 2011 | 505 | #514 | 0.27 |
| 2010 | 536 | #485 | 0.28 |
| 2009 | 589 | #462 | 0.30 |
| 2008 | 687 | #424 | 0.34 |
| 2007 | 757 | #394 | 0.36 |
| 2006 | 824 | #362 | 0.40 |
| 2005 | 822 | #359 | 0.41 |
| 2004 | 799 | #353 | 0.40 |
| 2003 | 976 | #307 | 0.49 |
| 2002 | 953 | #305 | 0.49 |
| 2001 | 1,081 | #282 | 0.56 |
| 2000 | 1,173 | #274 | 0.60 |
| 1999 | 1,290 | #247 | 0.67 |
| 1998 | 1,403 | #227 | 0.73 |
| 1997 | 1,586 | #201 | 0.84 |
| 1996 | 1,793 | #181 | 0.95 |
| 1995 | 1,947 | #168 | 1.0 |
| 1994 | 2,162 | #156 | 1.1 |
| 1993 | 2,461 | #139 | 1.3 |
| 1992 | 2,630 | #127 | 1.3 |
| 1991 | 3,156 | #109 | 1.6 |
| 1990 | 3,544 | #103 | 1.7 |
| 1989 | 3,700 | #92 | 1.8 |
| 1988 | 3,655 | #88 | 1.9 |
| 1987 | 3,804 | #85 | 2.0 |
| 1986 | 3,763 | #82 | 2.0 |
| 1985 | 4,021 | #76 | 2.2 |
| 1984 | 4,142 | #71 | 2.3 |
| 1983 | 4,182 | #69 | 2.3 |
| 1982 | 4,511 | #68 | 2.5 |
| 1981 | 4,788 | #64 | 2.7 |
| 1980 | 5,180 | #62 | 2.9 |
| 1979 | 5,167 | #58 | 3.0 |
| 1978 | 5,151 | #59 | 3.1 |
| 1977 | 5,297 | #59 | 3.2 |
| 1976 | 5,224 | #56 | 3.3 |
| 1975 | 5,345 | #55 | 3.4 |
| 1974 | 5,843 | #53 | 3.7 |
| 1973 | 6,595 | #47 | 4.2 |
| 1972 | 7,387 | #43 | 4.6 |
| 1971 | 8,737 | #39 | 4.9 |
| 1970 | 10,409 | #36 | 5.6 |
| 1969 | 11,237 | #34 | 6.3 |
| 1968 | 11,405 | #33 | 6.6 |
| 1967 | 11,434 | #33 | 6.6 |
| 1966 | 11,401 | #33 | 6.4 |
| 1965 | 12,787 | #32 | 6.9 |
| 1964 | 14,600 | #31 | 7.3 |
| 1963 | 15,086 | #28 | 7.4 |
| 1962 | 15,928 | #27 | 7.7 |
| 1961 | 15,978 | #28 | 7.5 |
| 1960 | 15,133 | #30 | 7.1 |
| 1959 | 15,290 | #30 | 7.2 |
| 1958 | 15,798 | #30 | 7.4 |
| 1957 | 16,730 | #30 | 7.8 |
| 1956 | 16,389 | #29 | 7.7 |
| 1955 | 15,311 | #29 | 7.4 |
| 1954 | 14,703 | #29 | 7.2 |
| 1953 | 14,138 | #27 | 7.2 |
| 1952 | 13,680 | #28 | 7.0 |
| 1951 | 13,902 | #27 | 7.4 |
| 1950 | 12,264 | #28 | 6.9 |
| 1949 | 11,322 | #29 | 6.4 |
| 1948 | 9,468 | #33 | 5.4 |
| 1947 | 9,895 | #31 | 5.4 |
| 1946 | 8,336 | #34 | 5.1 |
| 1945 | 7,394 | #29 | 5.5 |
| 1944 | 6,998 | #34 | 5.1 |
| 1943 | 8,236 | #28 | 5.8 |
| 1942 | 11,233 | #23 | 8.1 |
| 1941 | 4,146 | #53 | 3.4 |
| 1940 | 3,732 | #56 | 3.2 |
| 1939 | 3,564 | #58 | 3.2 |
| 1938 | 3,508 | #60 | 3.2 |
| 1937 | 2,610 | #74 | 2.4 |
| 1936 | 2,374 | #78 | 2.3 |
| 1935 | 2,529 | #75 | 2.4 |
| 1934 | 2,541 | #72 | 2.5 |
| 1933 | 2,252 | #81 | 2.3 |
| 1932 | 2,284 | #85 | 2.2 |
| 1931 | 2,203 | #85 | 2.1 |
| 1930 | 2,166 | #89 | 2.0 |
| 1929 | 1,965 | #97 | 1.8 |
| 1928 | 1,912 | #102 | 1.7 |
| 1927 | 1,821 | #104 | 1.6 |
| 1926 | 1,778 | #103 | 1.6 |
| 1925 | 1,677 | #103 | 1.5 |
| 1924 | 1,676 | #105 | 1.5 |
| 1923 | 1,613 | #108 | 1.5 |
| 1922 | 1,636 | #106 | 1.5 |
| 1921 | 1,566 | #111 | 1.4 |
| 1920 | 1,657 | #106 | 1.6 |
| 1919 | 1,328 | #121 | 1.4 |
| 1918 | 1,432 | #115 | 1.4 |
| 1917 | 981 | #138 | 1.1 |
| 1916 | 815 | #151 | 0.92 |
| 1915 | 734 | #158 | 0.86 |
| 1914 | 502 | #175 | 0.77 |
| 1913 | 428 | #163 | 0.84 |
| 1912 | 350 | #165 | 0.81 |
| 1911 | 169 | #181 | 0.75 |
| 1910 | 169 | #172 | 0.87 |
| 1909 | 126 | #181 | 0.77 |
| 1908 | 111 | #191 | 0.72 |
| 1907 | 99 | #197 | 0.67 |
| 1906 | 99 | #183 | 0.74 |
| 1905 | 85 | #207 | 0.64 |
| 1904 | 64 | #237 | 0.50 |
| 1903 | 100 | #168 | 0.84 |
| 1902 | 76 | #205 | 0.62 |
| 1901 | 83 | #177 | 0.78 |
| 1900 | 107 | #191 | 0.71 |
| 1899 | 73 | #187 | 0.69 |
| 1898 | 71 | #207 | 0.58 |
| 1897 | 58 | #227 | 0.51 |
| 1896 | 72 | #209 | 0.60 |
| 1895 | 61 | #224 | 0.52 |
| 1894 | 66 | #207 | 0.57 |
| 1893 | 56 | #227 | 0.50 |
| 1892 | 57 | #235 | 0.47 |
| 1891 | 33 | #284 | 0.33 |
| 1890 | 38 | #280 | 0.34 |
| 1889 | 39 | #267 | 0.35 |
| 1888 | 50 | #246 | 0.41 |
| 1887 | 34 | #280 | 0.34 |
| 1886 | 35 | #290 | 0.32 |
| 1885 | 30 | #308 | 0.28 |
| 1884 | 36 | #289 | 0.31 |
| 1883 | 33 | #284 | 0.32 |
| 1882 | 32 | #309 | 0.28 |
| 1881 | 16 | #434 | 0.16 |
| 1880 | 29 | #314 | 0.26 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Douglas a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Douglas has been given almost only to boys: 2,073 girls in 146 years of records.
Girls and boys named Douglas: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Douglas, and how old are they?
381,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 68% of the 562,086 Americans ever recorded as Douglas. The median Douglas alive today is 62 years old; half are between 51 and 70.
The 2020 Census counted 383,164 people named Douglas (359 women and girls, 382,805 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 419,710 born in the U.S. The Census count is 9% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 19,300 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 179,000 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 113,000 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 51,700 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 14,200 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 4,890 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Douglas born?
The states with the most babies named Douglas are New York, California and Ohio, with 23% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 45,088 | #723 | 0.9× |
| California | 42,702 | #966 | 0.9× |
| Ohio | 37,803 | #724 | 1.3× |
| Michigan | 34,569 | #787 | 1.4× |
| Pennsylvania | 29,474 | #511 | 0.9× |
| Illinois | 26,165 | #957 | 0.9× |
| Texas | 23,234 | #984 | 0.7× |
| Minnesota | 16,828 | #838 | 1.4× |
| New Jersey | 16,726 | #850 | 1.0× |
| Indiana | 16,034 | #978 | 1.1× |
Where Douglas is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Douglas is most over-represented in South Dakota: since 1910 it was given 1.6 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Douglas with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 3 names spelled alike, given to 568,181 babies since 1880, Douglas is the most given (99% of them). In 2025 it was given to 308 of their 308 babies (100%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Douglas
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Douglas and names like it
- Compare Douglas and DouglassBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sDouglas peaked in 1957.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Douglas since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Douglas: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1957The year the most babies were named Douglas.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Douglas alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with DMost given first.