Duncan is an

Anglicised Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influen ...

form of

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

and

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...

Donnchadh Donnchadh () is a masculine given name common to the Irish and Scottish Gaelic languages. It is composed of the elements ''donn'', meaning "brown" or "dark" from Donn a Gaelic God; and ''chadh'', meaning "chief" or "noble". The name is also writt ...

''. One of the first people to bear the name was king of Dál Riata Dúnchad mac Dubáin, who was possibly the grandfather of Fiannamail ua Dúnchado-Fiannamail O'Dúnchado. The final letter ''n'' in the Anglicised ''Duncan'' seems to be a result of confusion in the Latin form of the name—''Duncanus''—with the Gaelic word ''ceann'', meaning "head". One opinion is that the Gaelic ''Donnchadh'' is composed of the elements ''donn'', meaning "dark or dark-haired man" or "chieftain"; and ''cath'', meaning "battle", together meaning "dark-haired or dark warrior". For the etymology of the surname ''Duncan'' this web page cites: ''Dictionary of American Family Names''. Another opinion is that the Gaelic ''Donnchadh'' is composed of the elements ''donn'', meaning "brown"; and ''chadh'', meaning "chief" or "noble".

Variations

Royalty

Duncan I of Scotland Donnchad mac Crinain ( gd, Donnchadh mac Crìonain; anglicised as Duncan I, and nicknamed An t-Ilgarach, "the Diseased" or "the Sick"; c. 1001 – 14 August 1040)Broun, "Duncan I (d. 1040)". was king of Scotland (''Alba'') from 1034 to 1040. ...

(died 1040), king of Alba, the inspiration for King Duncan in Shakespeare's play ''Macbeth'' *

Duncan II of Scotland Donnchad mac Máel Coluim ( Modern Gaelic: ''Donnchadh mac Mhaoil Chaluim'';''Donnchad mac Maíl Coluim'' is the Mediaeval Gaelic form. anglicised as Duncan II; c. 1060 – 12 November 1094) was king of Scots. He was son of Malcolm III (Máel Co ...

(1060–1094) king of Scots

Sports

Duncan Atwood Duncan Fuller Atwood (born October 11, 1955, in Seattle, Washington) is a former American athlete who twice won a gold medal in the javelin throw at the Pan American Games: in 1979 and 1987. Atwood set his personal best (78.92 metres) on August 29, ...

(born 1955), American javelin thrower *

Duncan Clark (athlete) Duncan McDougall Munro Clark (22 June 1915 – 8 July 2003) was an Olympic track and field athlete from Scotland. He was born in Greenock. Clark specialised in hammer throw events during his career, representing Great Britain in two consecutive ...

(1915–2003), Scottish hammer thrower *

Duncan Edwards Duncan Edwards (1 October 1936 – 21 February 1958) was an English footballer who played for Manchester United and the England national team. He was one of the Busby Babes, the young United team formed under manager Matt Busby in the m ...

(1936–1958), English footballer *

Duncan Ferguson Duncan Cowan Ferguson (born 27 December 1971) is a Scottish former professional footballer. Ferguson was the caretaker manager of Everton in 2019 and 2022. He began his career at Dundee United in 1990, and moved to Rangers in 1993 for what was ...

(born 1971), Scottish footballer * Duncan Goodhew, Olympic swimmer for Great Britain * Duncan Keith, Canadian ice hockey player *

Duncan Kibet Duncan Kibet (born 25 April 1978) is a runner from Kenya. He became the second fastest marathoner ever with a time of 2:04:27 hours, when he won the 2009 Rotterdam Marathon. Career Kibet dropped out of school in 1997 due to financial problems. H ...

(born 1978), Kenyan long-distance runner
Duncan Legere
(born 1989), Canadian fencer *

Duncan Lindsay Duncan Morton Lindsay (21 March 1903 in Cambuslang – 1972) was a Scottish professional football centre-forward. Lindsay began his career with his local side Cambuslang Rangers. In 1925 he moved to East Fife and in April 1926 joined Cowdenbe ...

(1902–1972), Scottish footballer *

Duncan McClure Duncan Fraser McClure (10 June 1913 – May 1991) was a Scottish footballer who played as a left back, with Heart of Midlothian being his only club at professional level; taking all cups and unofficial wartime competitions into account, he made ...

, (1913–1991), Scottish footballer *

Duncan Reid :''For the Scottish electronic musician, see Linus Loves.'' Duncan Overbeck Reid (born 28 September 1989) is a Hong Kongese-Canadian professional basketball player for the Bay Area Dragons of the East Asia Super League (EASL). Professional ca ...

(born 1989), Hong Kong basketball player *

Duncan Robinson (basketball) Duncan McBryde Robinson (born April 22, 1994) is an American professional basketball player for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the NCAA Division III Williams College Ephs and the NC ...

, (born 1994), American professional basketball player for the

Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The club plays its home games at FT ...

Duncan Weir Duncan Weir (born 10 May 1991) is a Scotland international rugby union rugby player. He plays professional rugby for United Rugby Championship side Glasgow Warriors at fly-half. Rugby Union career Amateur career Weir was educated at Cathkin ...

(born 1991), Scottish rugby union player

Theatre and movies

Duncan Brennan Duncan Brannan (born June 25, 1970) is an American voice actor, who has provided voices for numerous mainstream children's entertainment characters, English-language dubs of Japanese anime, and other commercial properties. Career Brannan was th ...

, American actor *

Duncan Jones Duncan Zowie Haywood Jones (born 30 May 1971) is a British film director, film producer and screenwriter. He is best known for directing the films ''Moon'' (2009), ''Source Code'' (2011), ''Warcraft'' (2016), and ''Mute'' (2018). For ''Moon'', ...

, British-American movie director and writer of ''Moon'' and ''Warcraft'' *

Duncan Lamont Duncan William Ferguson Lamont (17 June 1918 – 19 December 1978) was a British actor.Brian McFarlane (Ed): ''The Encyclopedia of British Film'' (BFI/Methuen • London • 2000) p397''Picture Show Who's Who on the Screen'' (Amalgamated Pre ...

, Scottish actor *

Duncan Pflaster Duncan Pflaster (born 1973) is an American Off-Off-Broadway playwright, composer and actor. His first play ''Wilder and Wilder'' (a transvestite adaptation of Alice in Wonderland), was produced in 1995 at Florida Playwrights' Theatre in Holl ...

(born 1973), American playwright and actor *

Duncan Regehr Duncan Peter Regehr (born October 5, 1952) is a Canadian writer, multimedia artist, and film and television actor. He was also a figure skater and a classically trained Shakespearean stage actor in his native Canada, before heading to Hollywood ...

, Canadian stage, film and television actor

Literature

Duncan Campbell Scott Duncan Campbell Scott (August 2, 1862 – December 19, 1947) was a Canadian civil servant and poet and prose writer. With Charles G.D. Roberts, Bliss Carman, and Archibald Lampman, he is classed as one of Canada's Confederation Poets. A career ...

(1862-1947), Canadian poet

Music

Duncan Coutts Robert Duncan Coutts is a Canadian musician, best known for being the bassist for Our Lady Peace since 1995. Career Our Lady Peace Coutts joined Our Lady Peace on September 23, 1995, replacing Chris Eacrett after the band's debut album '' ...

(born 1969), Canadian bassist for Our Lady Peace *

Duncan James Duncan James (born Duncan Inglis, 7 April 1978) is an English singer and actor. He became widely known in 2001 as a member of the boy band Blue and later for playing Ryan Knight in the British soap opera ''Hollyoaks''. Early life James grew u ...

(born 1978), British singer *

, British jazz saxophone player and composer *

Duncan Laurence Duncan de Moor (; born 11 April 1994), known professionally as Duncan Laurence, is a Dutch singer and songwriter. He represented the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with his song "Arcade" and went on to win the competition, gi ...

(born 1994), Dutch singer *

Duncan Sheik Duncan Sheik (born November 18, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter and composer. Sheik is known for his 1996 debut single " Barely Breathing", which earned him a Grammy Award nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. He has composed m ...

, American singer

Politics

Duncan Baird Duncan Baird (born 1979) is the Budget Director for Governor Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas. He was elected to the Arkansas House of Representatives in 2008, a position which he held until he was term limited in 2015. As a legislator, Baird served a ...

, American politician * Duncan Hunter, American politician * Duncan D. Hunter, American politician

Journalism

Duncan McCue Duncan McCue is a Canadian television and radio journalist for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He is Anishinaabe (Ojibway), from Ontario, a member of the Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation. A longtime reporter for CBC Television's ...

, Canadian journalist

Business

Duncan Bannatyne Duncan Walker Bannatyne, (born 2 February 1949) is a Scottish entrepreneur, philanthropist, and author. His business interests include hotels, health clubs, spas, media, TV, and property. He is most famous for his appearance as a business an ...

, Scottish entrepreneur * Duncan Hines, American entrepreneur *

Duncan Phyfe Duncan Phyfe (1768 – 16 August 1854) was one of nineteenth-century America's leading cabinetmakers. Although he did not create a new furniture style, he interpreted fashionable European trends in a manner so distinguished and particular that ...

(originally Duncan Fife, 1770–1854), Scottish-born American cabinetmaker

Fictional characters

* Duncan, a character in the ''

Total Drama ''Total Drama'' (often shortened as ''TD'') is a Canadian animated television series created by Jennifer Pertsch and Tom McGillis that premiered on Teletoon in Canada on July 8, 2007, and on Cartoon Network in the U.S. on June 5, 2008. The s ...

'' series * Duncan Quagmire, a character in the ''

A Series of Unfortunate Events ''A Series of Unfortunate Events'' is a series of thirteen children's novels written by American author Daniel Handler under the pen name Lemony Snicket. The books follow the turbulent lives of Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire. After their ...

'' series by Lemony Snicket * Duncan, a character in ''

The Railway Series ''The Railway Series'' is a series of British books about a railway known as the North Western Railway, located on the fictional Island of Sodor. There are 42 books in the series, the first published in May 1945 by the Rev. Wilbert Awdry. T ...

'' and its televised adaptation, ''

Thomas and Friends ''Thomas & Friends'' (originally known as ''Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends'' and later ''Thomas & Friends: Big World! Big Adventures!'') is a British children's television series that aired across 24 series from 1984 to 2021. Based on ''The ...

'' *

Duncan Dhu Duncan Dhu is a Spanish group created in San Sebastián, Spain in 1984. Its original members were Mikel Erentxun (former singer in "Aristogatos"), Diego Vasallo and Juan Ramón Viles (former members of "Los Dalton"). Nowadays, it mainly consists ...

, character of the book ''

Kidnapped Kidnapped may refer to: * subject to the crime of kidnapping Literature * ''Kidnapped'' (novel), an 1886 novel by Robert Louis Stevenson * ''Kidnapped'' (comics), a 2007 graphic novel adaptation of R. L. Stevenson's novel by Alan Grant and Cam ...

'' by

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as '' Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...

inspiring the name of the Spanish band * Duncan Douglas, a character in ''

Freakazoid! ''Freakazoid!'' is an American superhero comedy animated television series created by Bruce Timm and Paul Dini and developed by Tom Ruegger for the Kids' WB programming block of The WB. The series chronicles the adventures of the title characte ...

'' *

Duncan Idaho Duncan Idaho is a fictional character in the ''Dune'' universe created by Frank Herbert. Introduced in the first novel of the series, 1965's '' Dune'', he became a breakout character and was revived in 1969's '' Dune Messiah''. He is the only ...

, a character in the ''Dune'' universe created by Frank Herbert *

King Duncan King Duncan is a fictional character in Shakespeare's ''Macbeth.'' He is the father of two youthful sons ( Malcolm and Donalbain), and the victim of a well-plotted regicide in a power grab by his trusted captain Macbeth. The origin of the c ...

, a character in the

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

play ''

Macbeth ''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...

'', based on

* Duncan MacLeod, a character in '' Highlander: The Series'' * Ser Duncan the Tall, a character in ''Tales of Dunk and Egg'', a series of novellas written by

George R. R. Martin George Raymond Richard Martin (born George Raymond Martin; September 20, 1948), also known as GRRM, is an American novelist, screenwriter, television producer and short story writer. He is the author of the series of epic fantasy novels ''A Song ...

, set in the same universe as ''

A Song of Ice and Fire ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' is a series of epic fantasy novels by the American novelist and screenwriter George R. R. Martin. He began the first volume of the series, '' A Game of Thrones'', in 1991, and it was published in 1996. Martin, who i ...

References

{{given name, Duncan, nocat Given names English-language masculine given names English masculine given names Scottish masculine given names