Doughty
An old English surname meaning “brave” or “valiant,” originally used as a nickname for a hardy, daring person.
The #3,019 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 25,989 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Doughty comes from Old English dohtig, meaning brave, hardy, or manly. In early use it was a descriptive nickname for someone thought to be stout-hearted or valiant, rather than a place-name or occupation. Later surname writers also linked it with related older forms meaning “strong” or “able.”
History
The name is recorded in medieval England and appears in 13th- and 14th-century forms in Yorkshire and elsewhere. It survived as a hereditary surname and remained especially well established in England. Some later surname scholars also tried to connect it with continental forms, but the Old English derivation is the standard explanation.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The surname’s meaning is very close to the modern adjective “doughty,” which still survives in English with the sense of brave or spirited.
From the historical record
“Dunton. co. Norfolk. DOUGHTY. A.-Sax. dohtig, valiant, hardy, manly. DOUGLAS. The most powerful and widely celebrated famil3'that Scotland ever produced. The name was assumed from lands on the small river Douglas, in Lan- arkshire, (Gael, diif-glas, du-cjlas, i.e., dark grey, from the colour of its waters), where…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom