Dickson
A patronymic surname meaning “son of Dick,” with Dick serving as a familiar medieval short form of Richard.
The #986 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 8,743 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Dickson is formed from Dick, a familiar medieval pet form of Richard, plus -son, meaning “son of.” In plain English, it originally meant “Dick’s son” or “the son of Richard.” The sources also treat it as the same basic formation as Dixon, another spelling based on the same nickname.
History
The name appears in both English and Scottish usage, and early writers linked at least some Scottish Dicksons to a Richard Keith said to have been nicknamed Dick. Historical surname books also note many spelling variants, including Dikson, Diksoun, Dixson, and Dixon. Over time, Dickson became established as a fixed hereditary surname rather than a literal description of parentage.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Nineteenth-century surname writers used Dickson as a classic example of how a casual medieval nickname could generate a whole surname family, alongside names like Hickson and Dixon.
From the historical record
“DICKSEE. The same as Dixie. DICKSON. See Richard. DIDSBURY. A chapelry of Manchester. DIGBY. A parish in Lincolnshire. The noble family are of great antiquity in co. Warwick. DIGG. See Digory. DIG GENS. See Digons.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom