Meaning & Origin
A surname from Scottish Gaelic, a less common spelling of Douglas.
Douglass is a boy's and girl's baby name of Scottish Gaelic origin, a variant spelling of Douglas, from the Gaelic Dubhglas meaning 'dark blue stream' or 'dark water,' from dubh (black) + glas (blue-green, water). The Douglas family is one of Scotland's most powerful noble clans.
The double-s spelling — as in Frederick Douglass, the escaped slave and abolitionist who became one of 19th-century America's most eloquent voices — gives this Scottish name enormous American moral weight. Douglass carries both Scottish clan heritage and abolitionist history.