English
The surname Duncan is of Scottish and Irish origin. The name stems from the Scottish and Irish Gaelic name Donnchadh, meaning 'brown warrior'. It is the anglicized form of the Gaelic name 'Duinnchinn', a byname composed of the elements 'donn', dark, brown and 'ceann', head.The Scottish Clan Donnchaidh, possesed a chief named Fat Duncan, who lived at the time of Robert the Bruce in the fourteenth century, he led the clan at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. The name dates as far back as the tenth century,were a Donecan is recorded in historical archives. It is a common Scottish name and was found there in the twelfth century, it was probably introduced from Ireland where the name occurs in 1086 and had become a surname by the thirteenth century.The character of the early Irish or Celts can be estimated from an inspection of the meaning of present day family names from Ireland. The warlike attitude can be clearly seen by the many names that originally meant soldier,warrior,or champion,such as Clancy, 'rude warrior', Hanlon, 'great hero', Keane, 'warrior', and Duncan, 'bown warrior'.The name was brought to America by Scottish and Irish immigrants. One of the first forefathers to bring this name to America is that of a, Peter Duncan,formerly of Edinburgh, who came to America in 1650, he settled in Nomini Creek. This name is the one hundredth and seventy-fifth most common surname in America.