The title Duke of Sutherland, derived from Sutherland in Scotland, was created for George Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Marquess of Stafford, in 1833.

The subsidiary titles of the Duke of Sutherland are: Marquess of Stafford (created 1786), Earl Gower (1746), Earl of Ellesmere (1846), Viscount Trentham, of Trentham in the County of Stafford (1746), Viscount Brackley, of Brackley in the County of Northampton (1846), and Baron Gower, of Sittenham in the County of York (1703). The Marquessate of Stafford, the Earldom of Gower and the Viscounty of Trentham are in the Peerage of Great Britain, the Dukedom, the Earldom of Ellesmere and the Viscounty of Brackley in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, and the Barony of Gower in the Peerage of England.

The title united with the ancient title of Earl of Sutherland after the first Duke and his wife, the holder of the Earldom, died, and the titles were inherited by the second Duke. The titles separated at the death of the fifth Duke; the Earldom could be inherited by his granddaughter, but the Dukedom could only pass to males.

Barons Gower (1703)

• John Leveson-Gower, 1st Baron Gower (1675-1709)
• John Leveson-Gower, 2nd Baron Gower (1694-1754) (became Earl Gower in 1746)

Earls Gower (1746)

• John Leveson-Gower, 1st Earl Gower (1694-1754)
• Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Gower (1721-1803) (became Marquess of Stafford in 1786)

Marquesses of Stafford (1786)

• Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford (1721-1803)
• George Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Marquess of Stafford (1758-1833) (became Duke of Sutherland in 1833)

Dukes of Sutherland (1833)

• George Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Duke of Sutherland (1758-1833)
• George Granville Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 2nd Duke of Sutherland (1786-1861)
• George Granville William Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 3rd Duke of Sutherland (1828-1892)
• Cromartie Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 4th Duke of Sutherland (1851-1913)
• George Granville Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 5th Duke of Sutherland (1888-1963)
• John Sutherland Egerton, 6th Duke of Sutherland (1915-2000)
• Francis Ronald Egerton, 7th Duke of Sutherland (b. 1940)