Douglas (surname) facts for kids

Douglas, occasionally spelt Douglass, is a Scottish surname. It is thought to derive from the Scottish Gaelic dubh glas, meaning "black stream". There are numerous places in Scotland from which the surname is derived. The surname has developed into the given name Douglas. 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 Scotland, it is thought, in most cases, to refer to Douglas, South Lanarkshire, the location of Douglas Castle, the chief stronghold of the Lords of Douglas. The Scottish Gaelic form of the given name is Dùbhghlas [ˈt̪uːl̪ˠəs̪]; the Irish-language forms are Dúghlas and Dubhghlas, which are pronounced [ˈd̪ˠuːɣlˠəsˠ]. According to George Fraser Black, in southern Argyllshire the surname is an Anglicised form of the surnames MacLucas, MacLugash (which are derived from the Gaelic Mac Lùcais).

Arts

Visual arts

• Aaron Douglas (artist) (1900–1979), American artist
• Andrew Douglas (born 1952), British photographer/director
• Haldane Douglas (1892–1980), American art director
• Jessie O. Douglas (1856-19??), British artist
• John Douglas (English architect) (1830–1911), English architect
• John Douglas (Scottish architect) (died 1778)
• Malcolm Douglas (illustrator) (1954–2009), British illustrator
• Mel Douglas (born 1978), Australian glass artist
• Sholto Johnstone Douglas (1871–1958), Scottish artist known as Sholto Douglas or Robert Sholto Johnstone Douglas
• Stan Douglas (born 1960), Canadian artist
• Stuart Douglas (born 1962), British photographer/director

Literature

• Lord Alfred Douglas (1870–1945), British poet
• Alice May Douglas (1865–1943), American poet, author, editor
• Amanda Minnie Douglas (1831–1916), American writer of children's stories
• Carole Nelson Douglas (1944–2021), American writer
• Colin Douglas (novelist) (born 1945), pseudonym of Colin Thomas Currie, Scottish novelist
• David John Douglass, British political activist and writer
• Ellen Douglas (1921–2012), born Josephine Ayres Haxton, American author
• Gavin Douglas (1474–1522), Scottish poet and bishop
• Geoffrey Douglas (born 1944), American author and journalist
• Helen Douglas Irvine (1880–1947), Scottish novelist, historian and translator
• Jack Douglas (writer) (1908–1989), American comedy writer
• J. Yellowlees Douglas, American author of hypertext fiction
• John Douglas (bishop of Salisbury) (1721–1807), Scottish man of letters and Anglican bishop
• John E. Douglas (born 1945), American criminal profiler and writer
• Keith Douglas (1920–1944), English poet of World War II
• Marjory Stoneman Douglas (1890–1998), American conservationist and writer
• Max Douglas (born 1970), Canadian comic book creator
• Michael Douglas (pen name Michael Crichton), American author
• Myra Douglas (1844–?), American writer, poet
• Norman Douglas (1868–1952), British writer
• Orville Lloyd Douglas (born 1976), Canadian essayist, poet, and writer
• Mark Douglas-Home (born 1951), Scottish editor-in-chief of The Herald in Glasgow, Scotland
• William Douglas-Home (1912–1992), British playwright

Music

• Alan Douglas (record producer), American record producer
• Ashanti (entertainer) (Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas) (born 1980), American R&B singer
• Barry Douglas (pianist) (born 1960), Northern Irish classical pianist and conductor
• Carl Douglas (born 1942), Jamaican-born singer
• Carol Douglas (born 1948), American singer
• Charles Douglass (1910–2003), American sound engineer
• Chip Douglas (Douglas Farthing Hatlelid, born 1942), American songwriter, musician, and record producer
• Chris Douglas (musician) (born 1974), American musician
• Craig Douglas (born 1941), English singer
• Dave Douglas (drummer), American drummer
• Dave Douglas (trumpeter) (born 1963), American jazz composer and trumpeter
• Jahméne Douglas, English singer, contestant of The X Factor (UK), series 9
• James Douglas (composer) (1932–2022), Scottish composer
• Jenny Douglas (born 1991), Scottish singer and actress
• Jerry Douglas (born 1955), American country music and bluegrass musician
• Jimmy Douglass, American record producer
• John Douglas, drummer for English band Anathema
• Johnny Douglas (conductor) (1920–2003), English composer, musical director and conductor
• K. C. Douglas (1913–1975), American blues musician
• Roy Douglas (1907–2015), British composer, pianist and arranger
• Steve Douglas (saxophonist) (1938–1993), American saxophonist, flautist and clarinetist
• Tom Douglas (songwriter), American country music songwriter
• Tony Douglas (singer) (1929–2013), American country music singer

Stage, screen, and radio

Business

• Donald Wills Douglas Sr. (1892–1981), American-born Scottish businessman, founder of Douglas Aircraft
• Donald Wills Douglas Jr. (1917–2004), American businessman, son of Donald Wills Douglas Sr.
• Gustaf Douglas (born 1938), Swedish businessman, vice chairman and largest single shareholder in security firm Securitas AB
• James Douglas (businessman) (1867–1949), Canadian mining engineer and businessman
• James Douglas Jr. (1868–1949), Canadian-born American businessman and mining executive in Canada, US and Mexico
• Louis Douglas (1889–1939), American dancer, choreographer, and music businessman
• Raymond E. Douglas (1948–2007), executive for The New York Times
• Walter Donald Douglas (1861–1912), American businessman and Titanic casualty

Law

• Andrew Grant Douglas (1932–2021), Republican justice of the Ohio Supreme Court
• Byrd Douglas (1894–1965), American college baseball and football coach as well as a judge
• Charles Gywnne "Chuck" Douglas III (born 1942), trial lawyer and a former United States Representative
• John Brown Douglas (c. 1855 – 1935), British professor of Roman law
• Lori Douglas, Manitoba judge
• Robert Dick Douglas (1875–1960), American lawyer and son of Robert M. Douglas
• Robert M. Douglas (1849–1917), American judge, North Carolina Supreme Court justice
• Samuel Douglas (1781–1833), Pennsylvania lawyer and state attorney general
• Wallace B. Douglas (1852–1930), American judge, Minnesota Supreme Court justice and Minnesota Attorney General
• William O. Douglas (1898–1980), American associate justice of the Supreme Court

Military

• Captain Andrew Snape Douglas (1761–1797), Scottish sea captain in the Royal Navy
• Sir Archibald Lucius Douglas (1842–1913), Canadian officer of the British Navy
• Lt. Col. Campbell Mellis Douglas (1840–1909), Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross
• Rear-Admiral Sir Charles Douglas, 1st Baronet of Carr, officer in the Royal Navy
• General Sir Charles W. H. Douglas (1850–1914), Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS)
• Admiral George Henry Douglas (1821–1905), British naval officer
• Henry Kyd Douglas (1838–1903), Confederate States Army officer
• General Sir Howard Douglas (1776–1861), British general and colonial administrator
• Admiral James Douglas, (abt 1755–1839), British naval officer
• Sir James Douglas, Lord of Douglas (James 'the Good', 1286–1330), Scottish soldier and knight in the Scottish wars of independence
• Sir James Douglas, 1st Baronet (1703–1787), Commodore for Newfoundland and Labrador
• James H. Douglas Jr. (1899–1988), United States Secretary of the Air Force and United States Deputy Secretary of Defense
• James Postell Douglas: Confederate Captain of the First Texas Artillery Battery, farmer, founder of the Tyler Tap Railroad, and president of the Texas and Gulf Short Line Railroad
• Lord James Douglas (1617–1645), son of the 1st Marquess of Douglas
• Sir John Douglas (died 1814), Royal Marine officer
• General Sir John Douglas of Glenfinart (1817–1888), Commander of the troops in the North British District
• Admiral John Erskine Douglas (c. 1758 – 1847), British naval officer
• Admiral John Leigh Douglas (1741–1810), British naval officer
• Major-General John Primrose Douglas (1908–1975), Honorary Surgeon to the Queen
• Lieutenant-General Sir Kenneth MacKenzie Douglas, 1st Baronet of Glenbervie (1754–1833), born Kenneth MacKenzie
• Matthew Douglas, 7th Laird of Mains (c. 1519 – after 1571), Scottish soldier
• Lt. Col. Montagu William Douglas (1863–1957), British soldier and colonial administrator in India
• Lt. General Sir Neil Douglas (1779/80–1853)
• Vice-Admiral Sir Percy Douglas (1876–1939), British naval officer, Hydrographer of the Navy
• Admiral Peter John Douglas (1787–1858), British naval officer
• Admiral Robert Gordon Douglas (1829–1910), British Royal Navy officer, Admiral Superintendent of Malta Dockyard in 1887.
• Field Marshal Robert Douglas (1727–1809), Scottish-born career soldier and field marshal of the Netherlands
• Admiral Sholto Douglas, (1833–1913), British naval officer
• Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sholto Douglas, 1st Baron Douglas of Kirtleside (1893–1969), British air force officer
• Brigadier General Sir Thomas Monteath Douglas (1788–1868), army officer in the East India Company
• Major-General Sir William Douglas KCMG, CB, DSO (13 August 1858 – 1920)
• Col. William Douglas of Balgillo (c. 1778–1818), British Army officer during the Napoleonic Wars
• William Douglas of Fingland (1672 – c. 1760), Scottish soldier
• Brigadier-General William Douglas of Kirkness (c. 1690 – 1747), Member of Parliament and soldier
• Major General Sir William Douglas of Bonjedward and Timpendean (1770–1834), British Army officer
• Lt. Col. Angus Falconer Douglas-Hamilton (1863–1915), Scottish soldier and posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross
• Admiral Lord Charles Montagu Douglas Scott (1839–1911), Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth
• Admiral The Honourable Sir Cyril Douglas-Pennant (1894–1961), Commander-in-Chief, The Nore
• General Count Archibald Douglas-Stjernorp, Swedish military
• Violet Douglas-Pennant (1865–1945), British philanthropist and commandant of the Women's Royal Air Force

Nobility

Politics

Sport

Science

Biology

• Claude Gordon Douglas (1882–1963), British physiologist
• David Douglas (1799–1834), Scottish botanist
• Virginia Douglas (1927–2017), Canadian psychologist and emeritus professor at McGill University

Earth sciences

• R. J. W. Douglas (1920–1979), Canadian geologist

Engineering

• C. H. Douglas (1879–1952), Scottish engineer and pioneer of the social credit concept
• Donald Wills Douglas Sr. (1892–1981), American aircraft industrialist

Mathematics

• Jesse Douglas (1897–1965), American mathematician and professor of mathematics
• Ronald G. Douglas (1938–2018), American mathematician

Physics

• David Douglass, American physicist
• James Douglas (physician) (1675–1742), Scottish physician and anatomist
• Michael R. Douglas, American physicist at Rutgers University

Other scientists

• A.S. Douglas (1921–2010), British professor of computer science
• Joel S. Douglas (fl. 1977–present), American medical device inventor
• John William Douglas (1814–1905), English entomologist
• Mary Douglas (1921–2007), British anthropologist
• Vibert Douglas aka A. Vibert Douglas (1894–1988), Canadian astronomer and the first Canadian woman to become an astrophysicist
• Iain Douglas-Hamilton (born 1942), British zoologist known for his study of elephants

Religion

Other fields

• Alexander Douglas-Douglas (1843–1914), Australian inspector of police and explorer
• Alan Douglas (journalist) (born 1951), Scottish journalist and former broadcaster
• Ben Elbert Douglas Sr. (1894–1981), American businessman who had an airport named for his wife, Charlotte
• Betto Douglas (c. 1772 – ?), slave on the British Colony of St. Kitts
• Catherine Douglas, later "Kate" Barlass, 15th-century lady-in-waiting to the Queen of Scotland
• Charlie Douglas (Charles Edward Douglas), New Zealand explorer, surveyor, and Royal Geographical Society Gill Memorial Prize winner (1840–1916)
• David Douglas (1823–1916), Scottish publisher
• David C. Douglas (1898–1982), British historian
• David Douglas, Lord Reston (1769–1819), Adam Smith's heir
• Frank L. Douglas, Guyanese American medical doctor.
• George Douglas of Longniddry (active 1580–1610), Scottish landowner and courtier
• James Douglas (journalist) (1867–1940), British newspaper editor, author and critic
• J. Archibald Douglas (born 1866), first professor of English and history at Government College, Agra
• James Sandilands Douglas (1872–1957), Mayor of Dunedin
• James W. B. Douglas (1914–1992), British social researcher
• Janet Douglas, 17th-century Scottish woman who claimed to have second sight
• Jennifer Douglas (born 1964), American writer/producer and activist.
• John E. Douglas (born 1945), FBI agent and criminal profiler
• Josepha Williams Douglas (1860–1938), also known as Josepha Williams, American physician
• Kenneth George (Ken) Douglas (1934–2022), New Zealand trade union leader
• Linda Douglass, former director of communications for the White House Office of Health Reform
• Malcolm Douglas, 8th Laird of Mains
• Margaret Elizabeth Douglas (1934–2008), English television producer and executive
• Mark Douglas, professor of Christian ethics at Columbia Theological Seminary
• Michael Dutton Douglas (1945–1963), American road accident victim
• Robert Douglas, Provost of Lincluden, landowner, courtier, and administrator
• Sir Robert Douglas, 6th Baronet (Robert Douglas of Glenbervie, 1694–1770), Scottish genealogist
• Sir Robert Kennaway Douglas (1838–1913), Keeper of the British Museum's Department of Oriental Printed Books and Manuscripts
• Robert M. Douglas (doctor) (born 1936), Chairman of Australia 21
• Sandy Douglas (1921–2010), British professor of computer science
• Stephen Douglas (journalist), British journalist
• Sue Douglas (born 1957), British media executive and former newspaper editor
• Susan J. Douglas, American feminist academic, columnist, and cultural critic
• William Alexander Binny "Alec" Douglas (born 1929), Canadian naval historian
• William Douglas (died 1791), Scottish sea captain
• William Douglas of Whittingehame (c. 1540 – 1595), Senator of the College of Justice at Edinburgh, and a Royal conspirator.
• Alexandre-Pierre de Mackensie-Douglas or Mackenzie-Douglas, baron de Kildin (1713–1765), French chargé d'affaires in St Petersburg
• Belinda Douglas-Scott-Montagu, Baroness Montagu of Beaulieu (1932–2022), British embroiderer
• Francisco Antonio Gregorio Tudela van Breugel-Douglas (born 1955), Peruvian career diplomat
• Ian Douglas-Wilson (1912–2013), British physician and editor of The Lancet

Fictional characters

• Eleanor Douglas, in the 2013 young adult novel Eleanor & Park, written by Rainbow Rowell

Counts Douglas in continental Europe

• Field Marshal Robert Douglas, Count of Skenninge
• Rosita Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough née Douglas
• Count Gustaf Archibald Siegwart Douglas (born 1938), Swedish businessman and politician
• Count Vilhelm Archibald Douglas (1883–1960), Swedish nobleman and soldier

See also

• Douglass (surname)