Doukas

The continuity of descent amongst the various branches of the original, middle Byzantine family is not clear, and historians generally recognize several distinct groups of Doukai based on their occurrence in the contemporary sources.

Later tradition, mentioned by the historian Nikephoros Bryennios, held that they descended from a paternal cousin of the Roman emperor Constantine I who had migrated to Constantinople in the 4th century and allegedly became the city's governor with the title of doux.

This tradition is, however, evidently an invention meant to glorify the family, at the time the Empire's ruling dynasty, by 11th-century court chroniclers.

[4] Some authors have raised the possibility of an Armenian descent, but all evidence suggests that the Doukai were native-born Greeks, probably from Paphlagonia in north-central Anatolia, where their estates were located.

It is unclear whether the doux in Andronikos's name is a surname or a military rank; some scholars consider them as belonging to the Doukas clan, although the exact relation, if any, with the earlier Doukai is impossible to ascertain.

The family was involved in the 976–979 rebellion of Bardas Skleros against Emperor Basil II (r. 976–1025), but the sons were later pardoned and resumed their careers.

[6][12][13] The third group of the family, the Doukai of the 11th century, was the more numerous and distinguished one, providing several generals and governors, and founding the Doukid dynasty which ruled Byzantium from 1059 to 1081.

[16] The most important connection, however, was to the Komnenoi: in 1077, Alexios Komnenos, then a general and later emperor (r. 1081–1118), married Irene Doukaina, the great-niece of Constantine X; thereafter, the family name Komnenodoukas was often used.

The majority of the 12th-century bearers of the name were therefore most likely members of other families, linked through marriage with the Doukai, who chose to emphasize this relationship due to the prestige the name conferred.

former Massachusetts state governor Michael Dukakis), Doukopoulos (Δουκόπουλος), Doukatos (Δουκάτος), Makrodoukas or Makrydoukas (Μακροδούκας/Μακρυδούκας), etc.