How popular is the baby name Duncan in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Duncan.

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Popularity of the baby name Duncan


Posts that mention the name Duncan

Baby name needed: Boy name for Lucy’s brother

A reader named Kate, who has a daughter named Lucy, is expecting a baby boy and would like some name suggestions. Here’s what she says:

We want what a lot of people probably want – timeless, classic, slightly vintage and old fashioned, an ‘accepted’ name in the sense it’s known, but hopefully he is not one of three kids in class to have it.

So far, Kate and her husband like five names: William, Henry, Oliver, Duncan and Charles (nn Charlie). (She also likes the girl names Abigail, Alice, Clara and Hope.)

The baby’s middle name will be Hawkins, and his surname will begin with the letter t.

Here are some names that came to mind:

Abraham
Adam
Alfred (Alfie)
Arthur
Blake
Clarence
Clark
Claude
Clement
Conrad
Dominic		Douglas
Eugene
Felix
Frank
Frederick
George
Giles
Gordon
Graham
Gregory
Harvey		Howard
Hugh
Malcolm
Maxwell
Miles/Milo
Mitchell
Otis
Patrick
Paul
Philip
Quentin		Roman
Sebastian
Simon/Simeon
Stephen
Sylvester
Theodore
Thomas
Timothy
Tobias
Vincent
Walter

I stayed away from the current top 50 (and names that looked like they might be headed that way soon).

Which of the names above to you like best for Lucy’s brother? What other name suggestions can you come up with for Kate?

Baby names needed: “Classy, quirky” names for twins

A reader named Abbie has four children: Leo Sebastian, Henry Edward, Jasper Alaric, and Eliza Vivienne. She recently learned that she is expecting twins (congrats!) and would like some help coming up with baby names–especially boy names. She writes:

Lucy Matilda and Nora Penelope will be the twins’ names if they are both girls.

We like shorter (two to three syllables) names that are classy and old-fashioned but have a hint of eccentricity and quirkiness to them; we want them to be familiar and accepted but still be unusual enough that they’ll be the only one in their classes.

If it helps, our last name starts with Gold and is two syllables.

The very first name to pop into my head? Amory, which I know from This Side of Paradise. This made me think that other names from Fitzgerald books and stories (written during the 1920s and ’30s) might be names Abbie would like. So I flipped through the Fitzgerald books that I own, then flipped through others that I don’t own (thanks to the magnificent Project Gutenberg), and found:

Abe (Abraham)
Albert
Charlie
Chester
Dexter
Duncan
Nelson
Percy
Roscoe
Warren		Daisy
Edith
Honoria
Lorraine
Lucille
Marion
Marjorie
Rosemary
Stella
Violet

I included girl names, but I don’t think Abbie needs any. (I’m guessing that if only one twin is a girl, she’ll be named either Lucy Matilda or Nora Penelope.)

So let’s concentrate on boy names now. Here are some others that seem both old-fashioned and a bit quirky to me:

Alfred
Arthur
Avery
Bernard
Bertram		Cedric
Dexter
Ernest
Felix
Frederick		Lewis
Milo
Nolan
Owen
Philip		Roland
Rupert
Simon
Stuart
Walter

Out of these, I think my favorites (for the sib set Leo, Henry, Jasper and Eliza) would be Owen, Philip, Simon and Stuart.

Which of the names above do you like best? What other names (firsts, middles, or combinations) would you suggest?

Update – The babies have arrived! To see what their genders/names are, either scroll down through the comments or just click here.

It’s not Zowie Bowie, it’s Duncan Jones

Those of us who follow celebrity baby names know all the oldies: Moon Unit, Dweezil, Ahmet, Diva…Fifi, Peaches, Little Pixie…River, Rain, Joaquin, Liberty, Summer…and, of course, Zowie.

Zowie Bowie, the son of singer David Bowie, was born in 1971 in London.

As it turns out, though, he’s not really named Zowie. His legal name is Duncan Zowie Hayward Jones. (His father’s name is also not original: David Bowie was born David Jones.)

Duncan went by “Zowie” as a child, “Joe” or “Joey” as a teen, and has been called Duncan ever since.

Duncan’s mother invented the name “Zowie” by altering the spelling of Zoë to make it seem more masculine.

How does Duncan sum up the media’s obsession with his name?

They latched on to Zowie and the fact it rhymed with Bowie. Easy laughs.

Despite this, he seems to have adjusted well, though. He’s now a movie director, and his debut film, Moon, is currently out in theaters.

Source: There is rhyme — and reason — to Duncan Jones’ name

Baby name needed: Boy name for Eliza’s twin brother

A reader named Lucas is expecting twins, one boy and one girl, and would like help choosing the boy name:

Its decided that the girl will be named Eliza, we just couldn’t resist its streamlined modernity and Eliza Doolitte charm and spunk, but when it comes to boys names we’re completely stuck. We were thinking of Joseph, its classic and timeless but perhaps a little too conservative for a twin sister named Eliza?

Personally, I think Eliza and Joseph sound great together. They’re not an exact match in terms of tone, but the difference isn’t a huge one.

It’s too bad Joseph doesn’t offer much more than Joe and Joey in terms of nicknames, though. Eliza is a pet form of Elizabeth, so I wish Joseph shortened to something with more verve (e.g. Benji, Theo). But that’s the only drawback I can think of; it’s hard to go wrong with Joseph.

As for other boy name ideas, how about…

Amos
Asher
Benedict
Benjamin
Caleb
Calvin
Curtis
Cyrus
Declan
Desmond		Dexter
Duncan
Dwight
Felix
Frank
Gideon
Graham
Grant
Grover
Harvey		Henry
Hugh
Jasper
Levi
Maxwell
Malcolm
Milo
Monroe
Nigel
Nolan		Oscar
Otis
Owen
Roland
Roscoe
Silas
Simon
Stuart
Theodore
Tobias

So now, three questions for you: Does Joseph sound good with Eliza? Do any of the non-Joseph names listed above sound good with Eliza? And, finally, what other names would you suggest to Lucas?