Dixon (surname)

Dixon, as is common in England, or Dickson, is a patronymic surname, traditionally Scottish and thought to have originated upon the birth of the son of Richard Keith, son of Hervey de Keith, Earl Marischal of Scotland, and Margaret, daughter of the 3rd Lord of Douglas.

History

"Nisbet in his Heraldry (Edinburgh 1722) says 'The Dicksons are descendants from Richard Keith, said to be a son of the family of Keith, Earls Marischals of Scotland' and in proof thereof carry the chief of Keith Marischal. This Richard was commonly called Dick and the 'son' was styled after him. The affix of son in the Lowlands answering the prefix Mac in the Highlands." As a result, Clan Dickson is considered a sept of Clan Keith. Richard Keith's son, Thomas, took the surname "Dickson," meaning "Dick's son" or "Richard's son".

Thomas Dickson (1247–1307) himself has quite a history. He was associated in some way with William Wallace, and was killed by the English in 1307 in battle. Tradition states he was slashed across the abdomen but continued fight holding the abdominal wound closed with one hand until he finally dropped dead. He is buried in the churchyard of St Brides, Douglas, and his marker shows him with a sword in one hand holding his belly with the other. Robert the Bruce made him Castellan of Castle Douglas the year before he was killed.

The Dicksons/Dixons (and 30 other derivates) family name was first found in Scotland whilst the Dixons in England who are of Scottish descent from Thomas Dickson living in 1268 are of the same origin as the Scottish Dicksons. Early records show Thomas Dicson, a follower of the Douglas clan, at the capture of Castle Douglas in 1307.

The Dickson's coat of arms show the Keith "pallets gules" and the Douglas "mullets argent", this is to show their descent from these two ancient Scottish noble families. The family mottoes include "Fortes fortuna juvat", "Coelum versus", for Dickson: translated as "Fortune favours the brave", Heavenward"; whilst "Quod dixi dixi" Dixon, is translated as "What I have said I have said".

References

Disambiguation pages

Ben Dixon (disambiguation), multiple people
Cecil Dixon (disambiguation), multiple people
Charles Dixon (disambiguation), multiple people
Don Dixon (disambiguation), multiple people
George Dixon (disambiguation), multiple people
John Dixon (disambiguation), multiple people
Larry Dixon (disambiguation), multiple people
Michael Dixon (disambiguation), multiple people
Paul Dixon (disambiguation), multiple people
Richard Dixon (disambiguation), multiple people
Robert Dixon (disambiguation), multiple people
Stephen Dixon (disambiguation) or Steve Dixon, multiple people
Thomas Dixon (disambiguation), multiple people
Tom Dixon (disambiguation), multiple people

Arts and writing

Alesha Dixon, British singer
Alice Dixon Le Plongeon (1851–1910), English photographer
Alice Dixon Le Plongeon, English photographer and archaeologist
Andrew Graham-Dixon, British art critic
Annie Dixon, English painter
Bill Dixon, American jazz musician
Chuck Dixon, American comic book writer
Colton Dixon, American musician
David Dixon, British actor and screenwriter
Dean Dixon, American conductor
Donna Dixon, American actress
Ella Hepworth Dixon (1857–1932; pseudonym, "Margaret Wynman"), English writer, novelist, editor
Eugene Dixon, birth name of American singer Gene Chandler
Floyd Dixon, American R&B pianist
Franklin W. Dixon, pseudonym used for Hardy Boys novel authors
Ivan Dixon, American actor
James Dixon (conductor), American conductor
Jerry Dixon (musician), American musician
Jerry Dixon (actor), American actor, director, choreographer and composer
Jessy Dixon, gospel singer
Joan Dixon, American actress
Lee Dixon (actor), American actor and singer
Leslie Dixon, American screenwriter
Malcolm Dixon (actor), English actor
Maxwell Dixon, American rapper known as Grand Puba
Mort Dixon (1892–1956), American lyricist
Reginald Dixon, British theatre organist
Richard Watson Dixon, English poet
Sonny Dixon, American TV anchorman
Wheeler Winston Dixon, American film director
Willie Dixon, American blues musician

Barons Glentoran

Politics, law, and government

Aaron Dixon, American activist
Abram Dixon (1787–1875), New York politician
Alan J. Dixon, American senator
Archibald Dixon, American politician
Arrington Dixon, American politician
Clay Dixon, American politician
Sir Daniel Dixon, 1st Baronet (1844–1907), mayor of Belfast
Frank M. Dixon, American politician
Fred Dixon (politician), Canadian politician
Isaiah Dixon (1923–2013), American politician
Joseph M. Dixon, American politician
Julian C. Dixon, Californian politician
Monica Dixon, American political organiser
Sir Owen Dixon, Chief Justice of Australia
Piers Dixon (1928–2017), British politician
Sharon Pratt Dixon, later Sharon Pratt Kelly, mayor of Washington, D.C.
Sheila Dixon, mayor of Baltimore
Thomas Homer-Dixon, Canadian political scientist

Sciences, medicine, and mathematics

Adrian Dixon, radiologist and Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge
Alfred Cardew Dixon, mathematician
Arthur Lee Dixon, mathematician, younger brother of Alfred Dixon
Dougal Dixon, Scottish geologist
Hal Dixon (biochemist) (1928–2008), Irish biochemist
Henry Horatio Dixon, Irish biologist
James R. Dixon, American herpetologist
Lance J. Dixon (born 1961), American theoretical physicist
Lisa Dixon, American psychiatry professor
Malcolm Dixon, British biochemist
Norman F. Dixon (1922–2013), British psychologist
Peter Dixon (economist) (born 1946), Australian economist
Travis Dixon, American media studies scholar

Sports

Alan Leonard Dixon, English cricketer
Antonio Dixon, American football player
Colin Dixon, Welsh rugby league footballer
D'Cota Dixon (born 1996), American football player
Dennis Dixon, American football player
George Dixon (rugby league), English rugby league footballer of the 1920s and 1930s
Hal Dixon (umpire) (1920–1966), American baseball umpire
Hanford Dixon, American footballer
Henry Hall Dixon, British sporting writer
Hewritt Dixon, American football running back
Ida Dixon (1854-1916), American golf course architect
Jamie Dixon (born 1965), American basketball coach
Juan Dixon, American basketball player
Kerry Dixon, English footballer
Lee Dixon, English footballer
Maggie Dixon (1977–2006), American basketball coach (sister of Jamie Dixon)
Malcolm Dixon (rugby league), English rugby league player
Marcus Dixon, American football player
Medina Dixon, American basketball player
Peter Dixon (born 1944), English rugby union player
Rap Dixon, American baseball player
Reg Dixon, Canadian sailor
Rod Dixon, New Zealand runner
Ron Dixon (American football), American footballer
Scott Dixon, racing driver from New Zealand
Scott Dixon (boxer), Scottish boxer of the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s
Stan Dixon (1894–1979), English footballer
Waliyy Dixon (born 1974), American streetball player

Other

Alfred Herbert Dixon (1857–1920), British businessman
Ambrose Dixon, 17th-century American pioneer
Amzi Dixon, American preacher
Cromwell Dixon, American aviation pioneer
Fitz Eugene Dixon Jr., American philanthropist, owner of the Philadelphia 76ers
Geoff Dixon, Australian CEO
Jane Holmes Dixon, Bishop of Washington
Jeane Dixon (1904–1997), American astrologer
Jeremiah Dixon, surveyor on the Mason–Dixon line
Lorna Dixon, Australian Aboriginal custodian and preserver of the Wangkumara language
Matthew Charles Dixon, recipient of the Victoria cross
Patrick Dixon, British business analyst and author
Robert M. W. Dixon (Robert Malcolm Ward Dixon), Australian linguist
William Hepworth Dixon, British historian

Fictional characters

Marcus Dixon (Alias), fictional character from the TV series Alias
Daryl Dixon and Merle Dixon, fictional characters from the TV series The Walking Dead
George Dixon, police constable in the 1950s/70s British TV series Dixon of Dock Green