Duncan

English

Alternative forms

• (surname): Donkin, Dunkin

Etymology

• As a Scottish Gaelic and Irish surname, from Donnchadh, a name composed of donn (“brown”) + cath (“battle”). Also spelled as Donagh and Donaghue, Donahue.
• Also as an Irish surname, Anglicized from Ó Duinnchinn, from donn (“brown”) + ceann (“head”).

Pronunciation

• (General American, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈdʌŋkən/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌŋkən

Proper noun

Duncan (countable and uncountable, plural Duncans)

1. A male given name from Scottish Gaelic anglicized from Scottish Gaelic Donnchadh; the name of two early saints and of two kings of Scotland.
   • c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

     For them the gracious Duncan I have murder'd

   • 1816, Walter Scott, Old Mortality, Samuel H. Parker, published 1836, page 232:

     "Country?" replied Cuddie; "ou, the country's weel eneugh, and it werena that dour deevil, Calver'se, ( they ca' him Dundee now) that's stirring about yet in the Highlands, they say, with a' the Donalds, and Duncans, and Dugalds, that ever wore bottomless breeks, driving about wi' him, to set things asteer again, - - -

   • 2011, Sophie Hannah, Lasting Damage, Hodder & Stoughton, →ISBN, pages 77–78:

     His full name is Benji Duncan Geoffrey Rigby-Monk. 'You're joking,' Kit said, when I first told him. 'Benji? Not even Benjamin?' Duncan and Geoffrey are his two granddads'names ― both unglamorous and old-dufferish, in Kit's view, and not worth inflicting on a new generation ― and Rigby-Monk is a fusion of Fran's surname and Anton's.

2. A Scottish surname originating as a patronymic.
3. A surname from Irish, a variant of Dinkin.
4. An Irish surname, a variant of Donegan.
5. An Irish surname, a variant of Dunican.
6. An Irish surname, adopted as an anglicization of Ó Donnchadha (whence Donoghue).
7. A locality in Kangaroo Island council area, South Australia; named for politician John Duncan.
8. A city in the Regional District of Cowichan Valley, British Columbia, Canada; named for early settler William Chalmers Duncan.
9. A locale in the United States:
   1. A town in Greenlee County, Arizona; named for copper businessman Duncan Smith.
   2. A township in Mercer County, Illinois.
   3. A census-designated place in Hancock County, Iowa.
   4. An unincorporated community in Casey County, Kentucky.
   5. An unincorporated community in Mercer County, Kentucky.
   6. A township in Houghton County, Michigan.
   7. A town in Bolivar County, Mississippi.
   8. A township in Sullivan County, Missouri.
   9. An unincorporated community in Webster County and Wright County, Missouri.
   10. A village in Platte County, Nebraska; named for early resident Wood B. Duncan.
   11. An unincorporated community in Buckhorn Township, Harnett County, North Carolina.
   12. A city, the county seat of Stephens County, Oklahoma; named for early settler William Duncan.
   13. A township in Tioga County, Pennsylvania.
   14. A town in Spartanburg County, South Carolina; named for landowner Leroy Duncan.
10. A river in British Columbia, Canada; running 206 km near Mount Dawson into the Kootenay Lake; named for prospector John Duncan.
11. A short river in the Southern Alps, West Coast Region, New Zealand.

Derived terms

• duncani
• Duncan Phyfe
• Duncanville
• IDS

Translations

given name

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 鄧肯 / 邓肯 (Dèngkěn)

• Irish: Donncha, Donnchadh m
• Korean: 덩컨 (deongkeon)
• Manx: Donaghey
• Marathi: डंकन (ḍaṅkan)
• Russian: Дункан (ru) m (Dunkan)
• Scottish Gaelic: Donnchadh

Anagrams

• nucDNA