Skip to content
NameLore.

Name

Duncan

/DUN-kin/ MasculineScottish Gaelic

Meaning

Duncan is a masculine name of Scottish Gaelic origin meaning “brown-haired warrior”.

Duncan anglicizes the Gaelic Donnchadh, combining donn, brown or dark, with cath, battle, and was carried by two medieval kings of Scotland, including the ruler murdered in Macbeth. It wears its history lightly, sounding more friendly than feudal today.

A familiar if never trendy presence in the US boys' top 1000 since the nineteenth century.

Popularity in the United States

Boys

Ranked #930 in 2023 · peak #378 in 1997

Data: US Social Security Administration, top-1000 ranks.

At a glance

Origin
Scottish Gaelic
Gender
Masculine
Pronounced
/DUN-kin/
Themes
DarkStrength

Advertisement

Questions

  • Duncan is a masculine name of Scottish Gaelic origin meaning “brown-haired warrior”. Duncan anglicizes the Gaelic Donnchadh, combining donn, brown or dark, with cath, battle, and was carried by two medieval kings of Scotland, including the ruler murdered in Macbeth.

  • Duncan is traditionally a masculine (boy) name. It is a familiar if never trendy presence in the US boys' top 1000 since the nineteenth century.

  • The name Duncan comes from Scottish Gaelic. Duncan anglicizes the Gaelic Donnchadh, combining donn, brown or dark, with cath, battle, and was carried by two medieval kings of Scotland, including the ruler murdered in Macbeth. It wears its history lightly, sounding more friendly than feudal today.

  • Duncan is pronounced DUN-kin.

More names that mean dark

Names that share this meaning.

  1. Adham MasculineArabic“black”
  2. Anubis MasculineEgyptian“the jackal-headed god of embalming”
  3. Blake UnisexEnglish“black, or pale”
  4. Ciara FeminineIrish“dark, black-haired”
  5. Cole MasculineEnglish“coal-black, charcoal”
  6. Donovan MasculineIrish“descendant of the dark one”