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 artistAndrew Douglas (born 1952), British photographer/directorHaldane Douglas (1892–1980), American art directorJohn Douglas (Scottish architect) (died 1778)John Douglas (architect) (1830–1911), English architectMalcolm Douglas (1954–2009), illustrator and an avid fan of folk musicSholto Johnstone Douglas (1987–1958). Known as Sholto Douglas, or Robert Sholto Johnstone Douglas, he was a Scottish figurative artist,Stan Douglas (born 1960), Canadian artistStuart Douglas (born 1962), British photographer/directorLord Alfred Douglas (1870–1945), British poetAmanda Minnie Douglas (1831–1916), American writer of children's storiesCarole Nelson Douglas, American writerColin Douglas (novelist) (born 1945), pseudonym of Colin Thomas Currie, Scottish novelistDavid John Douglass, political writerEllen Douglas (1921–2012), born Josephine Ayres Haxton, American authorGavin Douglas (1474–1522), Scottish poet and bishopGeoffrey Douglas (born 1944), American author and journalistHelen Douglas Irvine (1880–1947), Scottish novelist, historian and translatorJack Douglas (writer) (1908–1989), American comedy writerJohn Douglas (bishop of Salisbury) (1721–1807), Scottish man of letters and Anglican bishopJohn E. Douglas, author of horror novelsKeith Douglas (1920–1944), English poet of World War IIJ. Yellowlees Douglas, author of hypertext fictionMarjory Stoneman Douglas (1890–1998), American conservationist and writerMax Douglas (born 1970), Canadian comic book creatorMichael Douglas (pen name Michael Crichton), American authorNorman Douglas (1868–1952), British writerOrville Lloyd Douglas (born 1976), Canadian, essayist, poet, and writer.Mark Douglas-Home (born 1951), Scottish editor-in-chief of The Herald in Glasgow, ScotlandWilliam Douglas-Home (1912–1992), British playwrightAlan Douglas (record producer), American record producerAshanti (entertainer) (Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas) (born 1980), American R&B singerBarry Douglas (born 1960), classical pianist and conductorCarl Douglas (born 1942), Jamaican-born singerCarol Douglas (born 1948), American singerCharles Douglass (1910–2003), an American sound engineerChip Douglas (Douglas Farthing Hatlelid), songwriter, musician, and record producerChris Douglas (born 1974), American musicianCraig Douglas (born 1941), English singerDave Douglas (drummer), American drummerDave Douglas (trumpeter) (born 1963), American jazz composer and trumpeterJahméne Douglas, English singer, contestant of The X Factor (UK), series 9.James Douglas (composer) (born 1932), Scottish composerJenny Douglas (born 1991), Scottish singer and actressJerry Douglas (born 1955), American country music and bluegrass musicianJimmy Douglass, American record producerJohn Douglas (drummer) (born 1973), drummer for English band Anathema (band)Johnny Douglas (conductor) (1920–2003), English composer, musical director and conductorK. C. Douglas (1913–1975), American blues musicianSteve Douglas (saxophonist) (1938–1993), American saxophonist, flautist and clarinetistTom Douglas (songwriter), American country music songwriterDonald Wills Douglas, Sr. (1892–1981), Scottish businessman, founder of Douglas AircraftGustaf Douglas (born 1938), Swedish businessman, vice chairman and largest single shareholder in security firm Securitas ABJames Douglas (businessman) (1867–1949), Canadian mining engineer and businessmanJames 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 TimesWalter Donald Douglas (1861–1912), businessman and Titanic casualtyByrd Douglas (1894–1965), a college baseball and football coach as well as a judge.John Brown Douglas (c. 1855 – 1935), British Professor of Roman LawLori Douglas, Manitoba judgeRobert Dick Douglas (1875–1960), American lawyer and son of Robert M. DouglasRobert M. Douglas (1849–1917), American judge, North Carolina Supreme Court justiceSamuel Douglas (1781–1833), Pennsylvania lawyer and state Attorney GeneralWallace B. Douglas (1852–1930), American judge, Minnesota Supreme Court justice and Minnesota Attorney GeneralWilliam O. Douglas (1898–1980), American Associate Justice of the Supreme CourtCaptain Andrew Snape Douglas (1761–1797), Scottish sea captain in the Royal NavySir Archibald Lucius Douglas (1842–1913), Canadian officer of the British NavyLt. Col. Campbell Mellis Douglas (1840–1909), Canadian recipient of the Victoria CrossGeneral Sir Charles W. H. Douglas (1850–1914), Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS)General Sir Howard Douglas (1776–1861), British general and colonial administratorSir James Douglas, Lord of Douglas (James 'the Good', 1286–1330), Scottish soldier and knight in the Scottish wars of independenceLord James Douglas (1617–1645), son of the 1st Marquess of DouglasJames H. Douglas, Jr. (1899–1988), United States Secretary of the Air Force and United States Deputy Secretary of DefenseSir James Douglas, 1st Baronet (1703–1787), Commodore for Newfoundland and LabradorSir John Douglas (died 1814), Royal Marine officerAdmiral John Erskine Douglas (c. 1758–1847), British naval officerLieutenant-General Sir Kenneth MacKenzie Douglas, 1st Baronet of Glenbervie (1754–1833) born Kenneth MacKenzieMatthew Douglas, 7th Laird of Mains (c. 1519 – after 1571), Scottish soldierLt General Sir Neil Douglas (1779/80–1853)Vice-Admiral Sir Percy Douglas (1876–1939), British naval officer, Hydrographer of the NavyAdmiral Peter John Douglas (1787–1858), British naval officerAdmiral 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 NetherlandsMarshal of the Royal Air Force Sholto Douglas, 1st Baron Douglas of Kirtleside (1893–1969), British air force officerBrigadier General Sir Thomas Monteath Douglas (1788–1868), an army officer in the East India CompanyCol William Douglas of Balgillo (c. 1778–1818), a British Army officer during the Napoleonic WarsWilliam Douglas of Fingland (1672 – c. 1760), Scottish soldierBrigadier-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 CrossAdmiral 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 NoreGeneral, Count Archibald Douglas-Stjernorp, Swedish militaryViolet Douglas-Pennant (1865–1945), British philanthropist and commandant of the Women's Royal Air ForceClaude Gordon Douglas (1882–1963), British physiologistDavid Douglas (1799–1834), Scottish botanistR. J. W. Douglas (1920–1979) Canadian geologistC. H. Douglas (1879–1952), Scottish engineer and pioneer of the social credit conceptDonald Wills Douglas, Sr. (1892–1981), American aircraft industrialistJesse Douglas (1897–1965), American mathematician and professor of mathematicsRonald G. Douglas (born 1938), American mathematicianDavid Douglass, American physicist and global-warming skepticJames Douglas (physician) (1675–1742), Scottish physician and anatomistMichael R. Douglas, American physicist at Rutgers UniversityVibert Douglas (1894–1988), Canadian astronomer and the first Canadian woman to become an astrophysicistA.S. Douglas (1921–2010), British professor of computer scienceJohn William Douglas (1814–1905), English entomologistMary Douglas (born 1921), British anthropologistIain Douglas-Hamilton (born 1942),Zoologist known for his study of elephantsAlexander Douglas-Douglas (1843–1914), Australian inspector of police and explorerAlan Douglas (journalist) (born 1951), Scottish journalist and former broadcasterBen Elbert Douglas, Sr. (1894–1981), an American businessman who had an airport named for his wife, CharlotteCatherine Douglas aka "Kate" BarlassCharlie Douglas (Charles Edward Douglas), New Zealand explorer, surveyor, and Royal Geographical Society Gill Memorial Prize winner (1840–1916)David C. Douglas (1898–1982), British historianDavid Douglas, Lord Reston (born 1769), Adam Smith's heirFrank L. Douglas, Guyanese American medical doctor.James Douglas (journalist) (1867–1940), British newspaper editor, author and criticJ. Archibald Douglas (born 1866), first professor of English and History at Government College, AgraJames W. B. Douglas, social researcherJane Douglas (c. 1700 – 1762), Brothel KeeperJanet Douglas, a Scottish woman who claimed to have second sightJennifer Douglas (born 1964), an American writer/producer and activist.John E. Douglas (born 1945), FBI agent and criminal profilerJosepha Williams Douglas (1860-1938), also commonly known as Josepha Williams, was an American physicianKen Douglas (born 1934), New Zealand trade union leaderLinda Douglass, former director of communications for the White House Office of Health ReformMalcolm Douglas, 8th Laird of MainsMichael Dutton Douglas (1945–1963), road accident victimSir Robert Douglas, 6th Baronet (Robert Douglas of Glenbervie, 1694–1770), Scottish genealogistSir Robert Kennaway Douglas (1838–1913), Keeper of the British Museum's Department of Oriental Printed Books and ManuscriptsRobert M. Douglas (doctor) (born 1936), Chairman of Australia 21Sandy Douglas 1921–2010, a British professor of computer scienceStephen Douglas (journalist), British journalistSue Douglas (born 1957), British media executive and former newspaper editorSusan J. Douglas, feminist academic, columnist, and cultural criticWalter Douglas, Scottish drug traffickerWilliam Alexander Binny "Alec" Douglas (born 1929), Canadian naval historianWilliam Douglas (died 1791), Scottish sea captainWilliam 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 embroidererFrancisco 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, Germanyvon Reischach-Douglas, a cadet grandson of said count RobertDouglas-Gerstorp, the branch (settled to Sweden) descending from the youngest son of said RobertDouglas-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. 1875Countess 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 SuccessionCount Gustaf Archibald Siegwart Douglas (born 1938), a Swedish businessman and politicianCount Vilhelm Archibald Douglas (1883–1960), a Swedish nobleman and soldierDouglas-Kolfall, the branch descending from Oscar, youngest son of the High Marshal Ludvig. 