31 May 2011

Douglas as a lady's name

Lady Douglas (or alternatively, Douglass) Sheffield is most widely known as the mother of Robert Dudley, styled Earl of Warwick, the illegitimate son of Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I of England.
Some information from Wikipedia:
Douglas is a Scottish and English masculine given name which originated from the surname Douglas. Although today the name is almost exclusively given to boys, it was used as girls name in the 17th and 18th centuries, in the north of England... Linguistically, Douglas is derived from the Gaelic elements: dubh, meaning "dark, black"; and glas, meaning "stream" (also a derivative of glas, meaning "grey").
I suspect there will be some readers of this blog named Douglas who will be surprised to read that women used to be named Douglas (just as I was a bit startled to realize that a very famous politician's mother's first name was Stanley).

6 comments:

  1. Warwick Castle is quite impressive - I get to go there with the Year 3 children each year. The climb up the towers and along the battlements involves 530 steps all told.
    A bit spoiled by being run by the same lot who own Madame Tussauds, so it's a bit theme-parkish in places. Expensive, too, but fun.

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  2. I went to grade school with a girl named Douglas. I thought it was the coolest name ever.

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  3. Anne Rice's first name is Howard

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  4. And President Obama's mother's first name was Stanley.

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  5. I don't think the picture's subject was Douglas Sheffield. The costume looks late 18th Century to me. Whoever she was, she was quite beautiful

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    1. I believe you're correct. And the souce has undergone linkrot. I've deleted the image. Thanks for the heads-up.

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