Douglass
Dark stream; a masculine name of Scottish origin meaning "from the dark river or stream".
Name Census estimates that about 3,818 living Americans carry the first name Douglass. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Douglass today is around 59 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Douglass births was 1970 (137 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Douglass. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
3.8K
~ 1 in 89,773 Americans
Peak year
1970
137 babies that year
Average age
59
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,629
Tracked since 1883
Census
Douglass in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,879 people with the first name Douglass, which placed it at #4,695 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#4,695
National first-name rank
People counted
3.9K
3,879 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
79.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Douglass
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Douglass is White at 79.1%. The next largest groups are Black (13.3%) and Hispanic (3.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Douglass described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Douglass at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White79.1% · 3,069
- Black or African American13.3% · 517
- Hispanic or Latino3.5% · 136
- Two or more races2.5% · 98
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 41
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 18
Gender
Gender distribution for Douglass
Out of the 5,795 babies given the name Douglass since 1880, 99.6% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Douglass as a male name
- Ranked #10,135 in 2024
- 7 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1970 (137 births)
Douglass as a female name
- Ranked #5,629 in 1951
- 5 female births in 1951
- Peak: 1921 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Douglass leans strongly male. 3,825 people counted with this name were male (98.7%), compared with 51 female bearers (1.3%).
Popularity
Douglass: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Douglass from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 1,103 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Douglass by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Douglass during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Douglass' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 25 states and territories. California, Pennsylvania, New York recorded the most babies named Douglass, while Oklahoma, Georgia, District of Columbia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 79 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Douglass
Douglass is a masculine given name of Scottish origin, derived from the Gaelic words "dubh" meaning "dark" and "glas" meaning "stream" or "water inlet." It is believed to have originated in the 12th century as a descriptive name for someone who lived near a dark stream or inlet.
The name Douglass first appeared in historical records in the 12th century, associated with the Douglas family, a prominent Scottish clan. One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name was William de Douglasdale, who lived in the late 12th century and whose name referred to the lands of Douglasdale in Lanarkshire, Scotland.
In the 14th century, the Douglas family rose to prominence through their military service and political influence. Sir James Douglas, also known as the "Black Douglas" (c. 1286 – 1330), was a renowned Scottish soldier and one of the leading commanders in the Wars of Scottish Independence against England. His bravery and loyalty to King Robert the Bruce earned him a place in Scottish folklore and history.
The name Douglass has been borne by several notable figures throughout history. One of the most famous was Frederick Douglass (1818 – 1895), an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. Born into slavery, he escaped and became a prominent leader in the abolitionist movement, working tirelessly for the abolition of slavery and advocating for the rights of enslaved people.
Another notable bearer of the name was William O. Douglass (1874 – 1957), an American architect and designer who pioneered the Prairie School of Architecture in Chicago. His most famous works include the Douglass House and the Douglass Tomb, both located in Illinois.
In literature, one of the earliest references to the name Douglass can be found in the epic poem "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight," dated to the late 14th century. The poem mentions a character named Sir Douglass, a knight of Arthur's Round Table, who plays a minor role in the story.
Other notable individuals named Douglass include Andrew Ellicott Douglass (1867 – 1962), an American astronomer and archaeologist known for his pioneering work in dendrochronology, and Douglass C. North (1920 – 2015), an American economist and co-recipient of the 1993 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
People
Douglass + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Douglass as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with D
Other first names starting with D with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Douglass: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Douglass?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,818 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Douglass going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 89,773 US residents.
Is Douglass a common name?
We classify Douglass as "Rare". It ranks above 95.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,795 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Douglass most popular?
The single biggest year for Douglass was 1970, when 137 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Douglass is about 59 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Douglass in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,879 people with the name Douglass, or 1.28 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,695 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Douglass in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Douglass?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Douglass leans strongly male. 3,825 people counted with this name were male (98.7%), compared with 51 female bearers (1.3%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Douglass?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Douglass is White at 79.1%. The next largest groups are Black (13.3%) and Hispanic (3.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Douglass most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Douglass in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.1% (3,069 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Douglass in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Douglass a male name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Douglass in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Douglass still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Douglass in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Douglass can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people share the name Douglass?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.