Dickson
Son of Richard, from the surname derived from the given name Richard.
Name Census estimates that about 436 living Americans carry the first name Dickson. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Dickson today is around 49 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dickson births was 1961 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dickson. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Dickson with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
436
~ 1 in 786,134 Americans
Peak year
1961
15 babies that year
Average age
49
years old
2023 SSA rank
#12,684
Tracked since 1914
Census
Dickson in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,095 people with the first name Dickson, which placed it at #11,632 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#11,632
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,095 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
36.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dickson
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dickson is Black at 36.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (28.5%) and White (20.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Dickson described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Dickson at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American36.2% · 396
- Asian and Pacific Islander28.5% · 312
- White20.7% · 227
- Hispanic or Latino12.4% · 136
- Two or more races1.2% · 13
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 11
Popularity
Dickson: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dickson from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 105 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dickson by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Dickson during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dicksons live
Origin
Meaning and history of Dickson
The name Dickson is believed to have originated in England and Scotland during the Middle Ages. It is thought to be a patronymic name derived from the Old English personal name "Dicca" or "Diccon," which itself is a pet form of the name Richard.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Dickson can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, which was a survey of land ownership in England commissioned by William the Conqueror. The name appears as "Dicson" in this historical record.
In the 12th century, the name Dickson was mentioned in the Pipe Rolls of Northumberland, which were administrative records kept by the English government. This suggests that individuals bearing the name Dickson were living in the northern region of England during this time period.
One of the earliest documented individuals with the name Dickson was Sir Adam Dickson, a Scottish knight who lived in the 13th century. He is mentioned in various medieval Scottish chronicles and was known for his military service.
Another notable bearer of the name Dickson was John Dickson, a Scottish theologian and philosopher who lived from 1583 to 1663. He was a professor at the University of Glasgow and wrote several works on theology and philosophy.
In the 18th century, James Dickson (1738-1822) was a British botanist and plant collector who made significant contributions to the study of plant life in the West Indies and other regions. He is credited with introducing numerous plant species to Britain and Europe.
During the 19th century, Sir James Dickson (1832-1901) was a prominent Australian politician and lawyer. He served as the Premier of Queensland and played a crucial role in the federation of Australia.
In the field of literature, one of the most famous individuals with the name Dickson was the American writer Harry Dickson (1891-1975). He is best known for his science fiction and fantasy stories, many of which were published in popular pulp magazines in the early 20th century.
People
Dickson + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dickson as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with D
Other first names starting with D with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Dickson: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dickson?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 436 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dickson going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 786,134 US residents.
Is Dickson a common name?
We classify Dickson as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 610 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dickson most popular?
The single biggest year for Dickson was 1961, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dickson is about 49 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dickson in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,095 people with the name Dickson, or 0.36 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,632 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Dickson in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Dickson?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dickson leans strongly male. 1,082 people counted with this name were male (98.6%), compared with 15 female bearers (1.4%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Dickson?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dickson is Black at 36.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (28.5%) and White (20.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Dickson most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Dickson in the 2020 Census, accounting for 36.2% (396 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Dickson in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dickson a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Dickson in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Dickson still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dickson in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Dickson can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Dickson?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Dickson at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.