Douglas (occasionally spelled Douglass) is a common surname of Scottish origin, thought to derive from the 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; the Irish language form it is Dúghlas, and Dubhghlas, which are pronounced [duːɣləs]. 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).
Aaron Douglas (1900–1979), American artist
Andrew Douglas (born 1952), British photographer/director
Haldane Douglas (1892–1980), American art director
John Douglas (Scottish architect) (died 1778)
John Douglas (architect) (1830–1911), English architect
Malcolm Douglas (1954–2009), illustrator and an avid fan of folk music
Sholto Johnstone Douglas (1987–1958). Known as Sholto Douglas, or Robert Sholto Johnstone Douglas, he was a Scottish figurative artist,
Stan Douglas (born 1960), Canadian artist
Stuart Douglas (born 1962), British photographer/director
Lord Alfred Douglas (1870–1945), British poet
Amanda Minnie Douglas (1831–1916), American writer of children's stories
Carole Nelson Douglas, American writer
Colin Douglas (novelist) (born 1945), pseudonym of Colin Thomas Currie, Scottish novelist
David John Douglass, political 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
John Douglas (bishop of Salisbury) (1721–1807), Scottish man of letters and Anglican bishop
John E. Douglas, author of horror novels
Keith Douglas (1920–1944), English poet of World War II
J. Yellowlees Douglas, author of hypertext fiction
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
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
Alan Douglas (record producer), American record producer
Ashanti (entertainer) (Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas) (born 1980), American R&B singer
Barry Douglas (born 1960), classical pianist and conductor
Carl Douglas (born 1942), Jamaican-born singer
Carol Douglas (born 1948), American singer
Charles Douglass (1910–2003), an American sound engineer
Chip Douglas (Douglas Farthing Hatlelid), songwriter, musician, and record producer
Chris Douglas (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) (born 1932), 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) (born 1973), drummer for English band Anathema (band)
Johnny Douglas (conductor) (1920–2003), English composer, musical director and conductor
K. C. Douglas (1913–1975), American blues musician
Steve Douglas (saxophonist) (1938–1993), American saxophonist, flautist and clarinetist
Tom Douglas (songwriter), American country music songwriter
Donald Wills Douglas, Sr. (1892–1981), Scottish businessman, founder of Douglas Aircraft
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. (born 1967), businessman and mining executive in Canada, US and Mexico.
Louis Douglas (1889–1939), American dancer, choreographer, and music businessman.
Raymond E. Douglas (1948–2007), an executive for the New York Times
Walter Donald Douglas (1861–1912), businessman and Titanic casualty
Byrd Douglas (1894–1965), a college baseball and football coach as well as a judge.
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
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
General Sir Charles W. H. Douglas (1850–1914), Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS)
General Sir Howard Douglas (1776–1861), British general and colonial administrator
Sir James Douglas, Lord of Douglas (James 'the Good', 1286–1330), Scottish soldier and knight in the Scottish wars of independence
Lord James Douglas (1617–1645), son of the 1st Marquess of Douglas
James H. Douglas, Jr. (1899–1988), United States Secretary of the Air Force and United States Deputy Secretary of Defense
Sir James Douglas, 1st Baronet (1703–1787), Commodore for Newfoundland and Labrador
Sir John Douglas (died 1814), Royal Marine officer
Admiral John Erskine Douglas (c. 1758–1847), British naval officer
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 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), career soldier, field marshal of the Netherlands
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), an army officer in the East India Company
Col William Douglas of Balgillo (c. 1778–1818), a 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), a Member of Parliament and a soldier.
David Douglas of St Vigeans, Angus (1777 – c. 1855) Driver, Royal Artillery Corps from 1794 to 1815. Served 20 years in East or West India Services.
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), Royal Navy officer who went on to be 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
Claude Gordon Douglas (1882–1963), British physiologist
David Douglas (1799–1834), Scottish botanist
R. J. W. Douglas (1920–1979) Canadian geologist
C. H. Douglas (1879–1952), Scottish engineer and pioneer of the social credit concept
Donald Wills Douglas, Sr. (1892–1981), American aircraft industrialist
Jesse Douglas (1897–1965), American mathematician and professor of mathematics
Ronald G. Douglas (born 1938), American mathematician
David Douglass, American physicist and global-warming skeptic
James Douglas (physician) (1675–1742), Scottish physician and anatomist
Michael R. Douglas, American physicist at Rutgers University
Vibert Douglas (1894–1988), Canadian astronomer and the first Canadian woman to become an astrophysicist
A.S. Douglas (1921–2010), British professor of computer science
John William Douglas (1814–1905), English entomologist
Mary Douglas (born 1921), British anthropologist
Iain Douglas-Hamilton (born 1942),Zoologist known for his study of elephants
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), an American businessman who had an airport named for his wife, Charlotte
Catherine Douglas aka "Kate" Barlass
Charlie Douglas (Charles Edward Douglas), New Zealand explorer, surveyor, and Royal Geographical Society Gill Memorial Prize winner (1840–1916)
David C. Douglas (1898–1982), British historian
David Douglas, Lord Reston (born 1769), Adam Smith's heir
Frank L. Douglas, Guyanese American medical doctor.
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 W. B. Douglas, social researcher
Jane Douglas (c. 1700 – 1762), Brothel Keeper
Janet Douglas, a Scottish woman who claimed to have second sight
Jennifer Douglas (born 1964), an American writer/producer and activist.
John E. Douglas (born 1945), FBI agent and criminal profiler
Josepha Williams Douglas (1860-1938), also commonly known as Josepha Williams, was an American physician
Ken Douglas (born 1934), 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
Michael Dutton Douglas (1945–1963), road accident victim
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, a British professor of computer science
Stephen Douglas (journalist), British journalist
Sue Douglas (born 1957), British media executive and former newspaper editor
Susan J. Douglas, feminist academic, columnist, and cultural critic
Walter Douglas, Scottish drug trafficker
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.
Belinda Douglas-Scott-Montagu, Baroness Montagu of Beaulieu (born 1932), a British embroiderer
Francisco Antonio Gregorio Tudela van Breugel-Douglas (born 1955), Peruvian career diplomat.
Field Marshal Robert Douglas was firstly created baron, and then count, in Sweden. His main fief was the town of Skänninge, and his wife brought in the estate where they had the manor of Stjernorp erected. His descendants generally continued to reside in Sweden, some offshoots to Russia, Germany etc. The head of the house received in 1848 the title of Count (count of the entail of Mühlhausen) also in peerage of the Grand Duchy of Baden. The main lineage did not produce long-lasting branches (except the Russian branch, a few generations), until the riksmarskalk of Sweden (High Marshal), Count Ludvig Douglas, Minister of Foreign Affairs, in the late 1800s, had several sons and yet more grandsons. Branches starting from his sons and so:
von Douglas-Langenstein, descendants of count Robert, eldest son of the High Marshal Ludvig. They hold the castle of Langenstein in Baden-Württemberg, Germany
von Reischach-Douglas, a cadet grandson of said count Robert
Douglas-Gerstorp, the branch (settled to Sweden) descending from the youngest son of said Robert
Douglas-Stjernorp, the branch descending from the Swedish general Archibald Douglas, second son of the High Marshal Ludvig. In this branch, there's the castle of Stjärnorp, reacquired to the family in c. 1875
Countess Dagmar Rosita Astrid Libertas Douglas-Stjernorp (born 1943), British artist and former wife the 11th Duke of Marlborough.
Princess Elisabeth, Duchess in Bavaria (born 1940), heir presumptive to both the former Bavarian Royal House and the Jacobite Succession
Count Gustaf Archibald Siegwart Douglas (born 1938), a Swedish businessman and politician
Count Vilhelm Archibald Douglas (1883–1960), a Swedish nobleman and soldier
Douglas-Kolfall, the branch descending from Oscar, youngest son of the High Marshal Ludvig.
