Duncan
Language: English
Part of speech: name
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈdʌŋkən/
rhymes: -ʌŋkən
Forms: form: Duncans
form: Donkin
form: 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”).
Senses: examples: text: For them the gracious Duncan I have murder'd
ref: 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]:
text: "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, - - -
ref: 1816, Walter Scott, Old Mortality, Samuel H. Parker, published 1836, page 232:
text: 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.
ref: 2011, Sophie Hannah, Lasting Damage, Hodder & Stoughton, →ISBN, pages 77–78:
glosses: A male given name from Scottish Gaelic anglicized from Scottish Gaelic Donnchadh; the name of two early saints and of two kings of Scotland.
glosses: A Scottish surname originating as a patronymic.
glosses: A surname from Irish, a variant of Dinkin.
glosses: An Irish surname, a variant of Donegan.
glosses: An Irish surname, a variant of Dunican.
glosses: An Irish surname, adopted as an anglicization of Ó Donnchadha (whence Donoghue).
glosses: A locality in Kangaroo Island council area, South Australia; named for politician John Duncan.
glosses: A city in the Regional District of Cowichan Valley, British Columbia, Canada; named for early settler William Chalmers Duncan.
glosses: A locale in the United States:
A town in Greenlee County, Arizona; named for copper businessman Duncan Smith.
glosses: A locale in the United States:
A township in Mercer County, Illinois.
glosses: A locale in the United States:
A census-designated place in Hancock County, Iowa.
glosses: A locale in the United States:
An unincorporated community in Casey County, Kentucky.
glosses: A locale in the United States:
An unincorporated community in Mercer County, Kentucky.
glosses: A locale in the United States:
A township in Houghton County, Michigan.
glosses: A locale in the United States:
A town in Bolivar County, Mississippi.
glosses: A locale in the United States:
A township in Sullivan County, Missouri.
glosses: A locale in the United States:
An unincorporated community in Webster County and Wright County, Missouri.
glosses: A locale in the United States:
A village in Platte County, Nebraska; named for early resident Wood B. Duncan.
glosses: A locale in the United States:
An unincorporated community in Buckhorn Township, Harnett County, North Carolina.
glosses: A locale in the United States:
A city, the county seat of Stephens County, Oklahoma; named for early settler William Duncan.
glosses: A locale in the United States:
A township in Tioga County, Pennsylvania.
glosses: A locale in the United States:
A town in Spartanburg County, South Carolina; named for landowner Leroy Duncan.
glosses: A river in British Columbia, Canada; running 206 km near Mount Dawson into the Kootenay Lake; named for prospector John Duncan.
glosses: A short river in the Southern Alps, West Coast Region, New Zealand.
Derived terms: duncani
Duncan Phyfe
Duncanville
IDS