Douglas
A Celtic name meaning "dark river". In Poland it barely registers: only about 130 men carry it, all of them male, and no boys have been named Douglas in years.
Douglas Pronunciation
Douglas is pronounced do-OOG-lahs (/dɔˈuglas/).
What Douglas means
Where Douglas comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Douglas begins as a river. The Scottish Gaelic words dubh glas mean "dark water," and they named a stream in Lanarkshire before they ever named a person. From that Celtic root comes the meaning still attached to the name: dark river.
The word travelled from water to family. Clan Douglas took the river's name, grew powerful in medieval Scotland, and carried it into English use as a first name. Sir James Douglas, ally of Robert the Bruce, made the name known across the border. By the time it reached beyond Scotland, Douglas had shifted from surname to given name.
In Poland the name stays foreign and rare. A teacher reading a class register might pause once at Douglas before moving on. It sounds English to a Polish ear, and the association holds: this is an English name with a Celtic river underneath.
The meaning stays simple and literal. Dark river, dubh glas.
How many people are named Douglas
1 in 164201 men in Poland is named Douglas. 130 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #2920 among male names.
Douglas as a middle name
Douglas is a first name for 130 men in Poland and a middle name for another 149, a 47/53 split, almost evenly. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 574th, between Arturo (149) and Minh (149).
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#572 Iwan150
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#573 Arturo149
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#574 Douglas149
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#575 Minh149
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#576 Dezyderiusz148