Geography
Global distribution
An estimated 371 bearers across 12 jurisdictions — with surprising concentrations in Morocco and Greece.
Current Geography
Present-day global distribution
Based on Forebears compiled estimates (2014 snapshot). Treat as directional, not a precise census.
| Country | Est. bearers | Share | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Morocco | 136 | Largest national total; suggests an Arabic/Amazigh romanisation stream | |
| England | 87 | Substantial local clusters; aligns with the West Midlands concentration | |
| United States | 55 | Includes the Brooklyn Douras line (Marion Davies) | |
| Greece | 35 | Highest density per capita; suggests a transliteration stream | |
| France | 16 | Could reflect migration or another origin pathway | |
| Australia | 14 | UK-linked emigration or direct migration | |
| Belgium | 10 | Small cluster near the Francophone/Dutch boundary | |
| Spain | 7 | Very small | |
| Canada | 4 | Likely a UK/US migration path | |
| Ireland | 3 | Extremely small, but relevant given the Irish lineage | |
| Scotland | 2 | Possible spillover or a separate origin | |
| South Africa | 2 | Modern mobility patterns | |
| 12 jurisdictions | 371 | Sum of the rows above |
A note on the totals
Forebears publishes a headline global estimate of 356, but the per-country rows it lists sum to 371. We have not been able to reconcile the two figures — they appear to come from different views of the same compiled dataset — so this site quotes the sum of the rows it actually shows and states the headline figure alongside it. Neither number should be treated as authoritative: both are modelled estimates built from partial civil-registration and directory data, and a surname this rare is especially sensitive to spelling variation and indexing choices.
Snapshots
How the name's footprint changed
| Period | Jurisdiction | Count | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1880 census | United States | 19 | Pre-dates Marion Davies, implying additional families |
| 1881 census | England & Wales | 11 | Presence in Victorian Britain |
| 1901 census | Ireland | 2 | Edge presence — rare, possibly mis-indexed |
| 2014 estimate | Global | 371 | Modern diaspora with a strong non-Anglosphere component |
United Kingdom
The West Midlands cluster
Within the UK, the exact spelling "Douras" returns 195 individuals across the 1841–1911 censuses. Only 19 of those records have so far been resolved to a named county; the table below shows that resolved subset, not the full 195.
| County | Region | Records identified |
|---|---|---|
| Shropshire | West Midlands | 12 |
| Worcestershire | West Midlands | 4 |
| Gloucestershire | South West | 1 |
| Suffolk | East Anglia | 1 |
| Radnorshire | Wales | 1 |
| Resolved to county | 19 of 195 |
The parent variant Durose shows 182 results in Staffordshire alone, and the Durose records converge on Bramshall near Uttoxeter. The absence of Staffordshire from the resolved Douras counties above is therefore suggestive rather than conclusive: it may indicate migration across county lines with clerical spelling variation, or it may simply reflect which records have been attributed so far.
Two further places appear in the transcription record but are not yet resolved into this table: Birmingham in Warwickshire (1841) and Eastwood in Nottinghamshire (1851). Both are discussed on the historical records page. Until the remaining records are attributed, the county picture here should be read as a work in progress rather than as evidence of localisation.
References
Sources
Counts on this page are transcription-level signals. FreeCEN and similar volunteer indexes warn that transcription errors occur, so every figure should be checked against the original census image before being relied upon.
- Source 01 Forebears — Douras surname distribution — Compiled global estimates (2014 snapshot). Source of every country figure and of the headline estimate discussed above.
- Source 02 FreeCEN — UK census transcriptions — Volunteer transcriptions underlying the 1841–1911 England and Wales counts.
- Source 03 National Archives of Ireland — 1901 and 1911 censuses — Source of the Irish census counts quoted in the snapshot table.
- Source 04 United States Federal Census, 1880 — Source of the 19 US instances recorded before the Brooklyn Douras family became publicly known.