Dumfries is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth. Dumfries was a civil parish and became the county town of the former county of Dumfriesshire.
Dumfries is nicknamed Queen of the South. People from Dumfries are known colloquially as Doonhamers.
There are at least two theories on the etymology of the name. One is that the name Dumfries originates from the Scottish Gaelic name Dun Phris which means "Fort of the Thicket". According to another theory, the name is a corruption of two words which mean the Friars' Hill; those who favour this idea allege the formation of a religious house near the head of what is now the Friars' Vennel.
