Duncan: Baby Name of the Day

The baby name Duncan blends Scottish heritage with literary and playful overtones.

Thanks to Liann for suggesting her son’s name as our Baby Name of the Day.

WHAT DOES THE BABY NAME DUNCAN MEAN?

Two possible meanings co-exist for Duncan.

Derived from the Scottish Gaelic name Donnchadh, there’s general agreement that donn refers to the color brown. It might’ve originally meant dark. We still use the word “dun” to refer to a shade of brown, especially with horses.

The second half of the name is open to discussion. Some contend it means warrior, chieftain, or battle. So the baby name Duncan refers to the brown warrior, or more poetically, the dark warrior. 

It’s also possible that Duncan was simply a name given to a brown-haired man, just like so many descriptive choices.

Meaning aside, Duncan brings to mind three things: an ill-fated ruler, the Yo-Yo, and cake.

KING DUNCAN: HISTORY AND LITERATURE

Let’s start with fiction. 

William Shakespeare’s Macbeth is a tragedy, using characters borrowed from Scottish history. 

The first King Donnchadh reigned in the eleventh century, and was succeeded by Macbeth in 1040. 

Shakespeare borrowed this outline and invented something new. Duncan wasn’t elderly during his reign, and he died in battle. Macbeth was, by contemporary accounts, a capable ruler.

The play gives us something different: a skilled, but overly ambitious, lieutenant, egged on by his scheming wife and a trio of cackling witches to commit regicide and frame the king’s servants.

A second Scottish king wore the name later in the eleventh century. Donnchadh appears centuries earlier as a given name, and was in early use as a surname, too. 

Plenty of distinguished Scotsmen have worn the name. In the eighteenth century, Adam Duncan served as an admiral in the Royal Navy. After defeating the Dutch, he was created a viscount.

YO-YOS AND BIRTHDAY CAKE

American entrepreneur Donald Duncan helped put a Yo-Yo in every toy box beginning in the 1940s. Duncan Toy was bought out by a larger company, but the Yo-Yos still bear his name.

Duncan Hines was a real person, a traveling salesman who tired of eating subpar food while on the road. He decided to compile a restaurant rating guide – a forerunner of today’s Zagat’s. Hines’ name became synonymous with quality, delicious food, and so later in life he entered into licensing agreements for bread and cake mix.

MORE FAMOUS DUNCANS

There’s also:

• Modern dance innovator Isadora Duncan.
• The books in A Series of Unfortunate Events feature siblings named Isadora and Duncan.
• In the Dune books and movies, Duncan Idaho is a skilled warrior and weapons master. Jason Momoa played the role in the recently rebooted movies.
• There’s Duncan MacLeod, hero of Highlander: The Series. The 1986 movie boosted the given name of its hero, Connor MacLeod, and Duncan climbed throughout the 1990s while the show aired. Reboots and spin-offs have followed, including a 2007 series, Highlander: The Source, with Duncan as the main character.
• A very different television reference is Sandy Duncan, star of late 80s sitcom The Hogan Family.
• Singer-songwriter Duncan Sheik’s hit single from 1996? “Barely Breathing” was a major hit, and earned Sheik a Grammy nomination.
• It’s one of the many engines on Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends.
• Athletes with the name include cricket’s Duncan Fletcher.
• Director Duncan Jones is the firstborn son of music icon David Bowie.

There are more references – a He-Man character, a Paul Simon song – and, of course, Duncan sounds like the word dunk – as in Dunkin’ Donuts.

HOW POPULAR IS THE NAME DUNCAN?

The baby name Duncan has never been especially common in the US.

It reached peak popularity in the year 1997, at a rank of #378. Fueled by Dune and Highlander, the name’s Scottish origin and adventurous ties briefly pushed it close to the mainstream.

But as of 2024, the baby name Duncan fails to rank in the US Top 1000. It was given to just 194 boys, which makes it uncommon – though not quite rare.

It’s also not particularly common in England, Ireland, or even Scotland today.

HANDSOME HERITAGE PICK

Still, if you’re looking for baby name inspiration from Scotland, Duncan could be a great fits-in/stands-out kind of choice. 

There’s a strength to this name, as well as a backstory with ties to literature and pop culture, too. It’s the perfect name for parents torn between popular Cameron and obscure Angus – a heritage pick with style.

What do you think of the baby name Duncan?

First published on February 13, 2019, this post was revised on June 8, 2025.