NameCensus.

UK surname

Dickson

Son of Dick, a diminutive of Richard, meaning "brave power" or "rich in power."

In the 1881 census there were 11,181 people recorded with the Dickson surname, ranking it #383 among surnames in the records. By 2016, the modern count was 15,252, ranked #415, down from #383 in 1881.

The strongest historical links point to Govan Combination, London parishes and Edinburgh. In the modern distribution records, the strongest local clusters include IZ09, Braidfauld and IZ16.

Across the surname records, the highest recorded count for Dickson is 16,068 in 2010. Compared with 1881, the name has grown by 36.4%.

1881 census count

11,181

Ranked #383

Modern count

15,252

2016, ranked #415

Peak year

2010

16,068 bearers

Map years

9

1851 to 2016

Key insights

  • Dickson had 11,181 recorded bearers in 1881, making it the #383 surname in that year.
  • The latest modern count shown here is 15,252 in 2016, ranked #415.
  • Within the historical census years, the highest count was 13,614 in 1901.
  • The contemporary neighbourhood profile most associated with the surname is Established but Challenged.

Dickson surname distribution map

The map shows where the Dickson surname is concentrated in each census or modern distribution year. Darker areas mean a stronger local concentration.

Distribution map

Dickson surname density by area, 1881 census.

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Lower densityMedium densityHigh density

Timeline

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Dickson over time

The table below tracks recorded surname counts and rank from the 19th-century census years through the modern adult-register period.

Year Period Count Rank
1851 historical 7,521 #372
1861 historical 8,621 #320
1881 historical 11,181 #383
1891 historical 12,427 #357
1901 historical 13,614 #384
1911 historical 4,474 #1,154
1997 modern 14,902 #406
1998 modern 15,314 #410
1999 modern 15,365 #413
2000 modern 15,434 #411
2001 modern 14,978 #412
2002 modern 15,412 #410
2003 modern 14,934 #413
2004 modern 14,927 #412
2005 modern 14,996 #406
2006 modern 15,033 #405
2007 modern 15,305 #397
2008 modern 15,433 #397
2009 modern 15,787 #401
2010 modern 16,068 #400
2011 modern 15,804 #401
2012 modern 15,185 #409
2013 modern 15,344 #417
2014 modern 15,449 #417
2015 modern 15,294 #415
2016 modern 15,252 #415

Geography

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Where Dicksons are most common

Historical parish links are strongest around Govan Combination, London parishes, Edinburgh, Dundee, Liff, Benvie and Invergowry and Dumfries. These are the places where the surname stands out most clearly in the older records.

The modern local-area list points to IZ09, Braidfauld, IZ16, St Boswells and Newtown Area and Lochside and Lincluden. Treat these as concentration signals, not proof that every family line began there.

Top historical parishes

Rank Parish Area
1 Govan Combination Lanark
2 London parishes London 3
3 Edinburgh Edinburgh
4 Dundee, Liff, Benvie and Invergowry Forfar
5 Dumfries Dumfries

Top modern areas

Rank Area District
1 IZ09 East Lothian
2 Braidfauld Glasgow City
3 IZ16 East Lothian
4 St Boswells and Newtown Area Scottish Borders
5 Lochside and Lincluden Dumfries and Galloway

Forenames

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First names often paired with Dickson

These lists show first names that appear often with the Dickson surname in historical and recent records.

Modern profile

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Neighbourhood profile for Dickson

Modern surname records can be compared with neighbourhood classifications. For Dickson, this points to the kinds of places where the surname is most concentrated today.

These neighbourhood labels describe areas, not individual people. They are useful because surnames often cluster through family history, migration, housing patterns and local work. A surname can be strongest in one type of neighbourhood even when people with that name live across the country.

The UK classification gives the national picture. The London classification is more specific to the capital, where housing, age profile, tenure and population mix can look quite different from the rest of the UK.

UK neighbourhood type

UK Output Area Classification

Supergroup

Semi- and Un-Skilled Workforce

Group

Established but Challenged

Nationally, the Dickson surname is most associated with neighbourhoods classed as Established but Challenged, within Semi- and Un-Skilled Workforce. This does not mean every Dickson household fits that profile, but it gives a useful signal about where the modern surname distribution is strongest.

Read profile summary

Group profile

Many households in these neighbourhoods comprise separated or divorced single parents with dependent children. Residents are typically born in the UK, and these neighbourhoods have relatively few members of ethnic minorities. The prevalence of children, their parents and those at or above normal retirement age, suggests neighbourhood structures may be long-established. Levels of unpaid care are high, and long-term disability is more common than in the Supergroup as a whole. Use of the social rented sector is common, often in terraced houses. Levels of overcrowding are above the Supergroup average. Unemployment is high, while those in work are employed in elementary occupations such as caring, leisure and customer services. Many residents have low level qualifications. Neighbourhood concentrations of this Group are found in the South Wales Valleys, Belfast, Londonderry and the Central Lowlands of Scotland.

Wider pattern

Living in terraced or semi-detached houses, residents of these neighbourhoods typically lack high levels of education and work in elementary or routine service occupations. Unemployment is above average. Residents are predominantly born in the UK, and residents are also predominantly from ethnic minorities. Social (but not private sector) rented sector housing is common. This Supergroup is found throughout the UK’s conurbations and industrial regions but is also an integral part of smaller towns.

London neighbourhood type

London Output Area Classification

Supergroup

The Greater London Mix

Group

Social Rented Sector Professional Support Workers

Within London, Dickson is most associated with areas classed as Social Rented Sector Professional Support Workers, part of The Greater London Mix. This gives the surname a London-specific profile rather than forcing the capital into the same pattern as the rest of the country.

Read profile summary

Group profile

Mainly located in Inner London, these neighbourhoods retain a diverse employment structure, with some concentration in associated professional and technical occupations rather than skilled trades or construction. Social renting is more common and levels of homeownership are low. Many residents identify as Black. There is a lower than average rate of marriage or civil partnership, few that are very old (85 or over) and higher than average incidence of disability.

Wider London pattern

A Supergroup embodying London's diversity in many respects, apart from low numbers of residents identifying as of Bangladeshi, Indian, Pakistani or Other (non-Chinese) Asian ethnicity. There is lower than average prevalence of families with dependent children, while there are above average occurrences of never-married individuals and single-person households. The age distribution is skewed towards younger, single residents and couples without children, with many individuals identifying as of mixed or multiple ethnicity. Social rented or private rented housing is slightly more prevalent than average, and many residents live in flats. Individuals typically work in professional and associated roles in public administration, education or health rather than in elementary occupations in agriculture, energy, water, construction or manufacturing. Incidence of students is slightly below average. Individuals declaring no religion are more prevalent than average and non-use of English at home is below average.

Healthy neighbourhoods

Access to healthy assets and hazards

Dickson is most concentrated in decile 1 for access to healthy assets and hazards. This places the surname towards the less healthy end of the index.

Lower deciles point towards weaker access to healthy assets or stronger exposure to local hazards. Higher deciles point towards stronger access and fewer hazards.

1
Lower access Higher access

Neighbourhood deprivation

Index of Multiple Deprivation

Dickson falls in decile 1 for neighbourhood deprivation. This puts the surname towards the more deprived end of the index.

Decile 1 represents the more deprived end of the scale. Decile 10 represents the less deprived end.

1
More deprived Less deprived

Broadband speed

Fixed broadband download speed

The modern neighbourhood pattern for Dickson is most associated with a typical fixed broadband download band of 30-40 mbit/s.

The scale below places that band in context, from slower local download bands through to faster ones.

6
Slower band Faster band

Area snapshot

Ethnic group estimate

Most common ethnic group estimate
White - British

This describes the area pattern most associated with Dickson, not the ethnicity of every person with the surname.

Meaning and origin of Dickson

The Dickson surname originates from Scotland and is derived from the Old English words "Dic" meaning "a ditch or dike" and "tun" meaning "a town or village". It likely referred to someone who lived by a ditch or near a dyke.

The earliest recorded spelling of the name is thought to be Diccsun in the mid-12th century. It is found in various old Scottish records from the late 12th century onwards, with spellings like Dicson, Dikesone, and Dykson.

One of the earliest recorded examples of the name is John Dyksone, who is mentioned in the Register of the Great Seal of Scotland in 1488. Another early bearer was Thomas Dickson, a Scottish merchant who lived in Danzig (modern-day Gdansk, Poland) in the late 16th century.

The surname is also linked to several place names in Scotland, such as Dickson's Inch in Roxburghshire and Dickson's Town in Lanarkshire, which may have been named after early Dickson families who settled in those areas.

Some notable historical figures with the Dickson surname include:

1. Adam Dickson (1554-1639), a Scottish Presbyterian minister and author. 2. James Dickson (1738-1822), a Scottish botanist and co-founder of the Linnean Society of London. 3. Sir Alexander Dickson (1836-1887), a Scottish naval officer and explorer who served in the Royal Navy. 4. Cyril Dickson (1856-1926), a British Anglican bishop who served as the Bishop of Salisbury from 1915 to 1926. 5. Walter Dickson (1874-1957), a Scottish-American jurist who served as a judge on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

While the Dickson surname has its roots in Scotland, it has since spread to many other parts of the world, particularly through Scottish emigration and exploration.

Sourced from namecensus.com.

1881 census detail

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Dickson families in the 1881 census

These tables use 1881 census entries for people recorded with the Dickson surname. Use the location tables for concentration, then the name and occupation tables for the people behind the surname.

Top counties

Total is the county count. Frequency and index adjust for local population size, so they are better concentration signals. Lanarkshire leads with 1,873 Dicksons recorded in 1881 and an index of 5.35x.

County Total Index
Lanarkshire 1,873 5.35x
Midlothian 1,786 12.32x
Lancashire 805 0.63x
Middlesex 541 0.50x
East Lothian 448 31.27x
Dumfriesshire 413 17.28x
Yorkshire 400 0.37x
Angus 399 3.98x
Roxburghshire 294 15.00x
Northumberland 279 1.73x
Ayrshire 269 3.32x
Fife 268 4.19x
Surrey 257 0.49x
Berwickshire 249 19.01x
Renfrewshire 210 2.51x
Durham 174 0.54x
Stirlingshire 174 4.36x
Aberdeenshire 169 1.69x
Selkirkshire 163 16.66x
Kirkcudbrightshire 145 9.26x
West Lothian 143 8.78x
Kent 142 0.38x
Cheshire 134 0.56x
Perthshire 114 2.35x
Peeblesshire 109 21.42x
Dunbartonshire 99 3.41x
Wigtownshire 78 5.43x
Cumberland 66 0.71x
Orkney 52 4.37x
Kincardineshire 51 3.87x
Hampshire 50 0.23x
Inverness-shire 50 1.55x
Essex 42 0.20x
Staffordshire 41 0.11x
Leicestershire 37 0.31x
Gloucestershire 36 0.17x
Glamorgan 35 0.19x
Lincolnshire 35 0.20x
Derbyshire 29 0.17x
Argyllshire 28 0.93x
Sussex 26 0.14x
Warwickshire 26 0.10x
Banffshire 25 1.11x
Somerset 21 0.12x
Wiltshire 21 0.22x
Caithness 20 1.35x
Cambridgeshire 20 0.29x
Devon 19 0.08x
Clackmannanshire 18 2.01x
Isle of Man 17 0.85x
Buteshire 15 2.29x
Nottinghamshire 14 0.10x
Channel Islands 13 0.41x
Hertfordshire 12 0.16x
Shropshire 12 0.13x
Buckinghamshire 11 0.17x
Kinross-shire 11 4.02x
Monmouthshire 10 0.13x
Northamptonshire 10 0.10x
Worcestershire 10 0.07x
Royal Navy 8 0.62x
Norfolk 7 0.04x
Shetland 7 0.63x
Morayshire 6 0.36x
Carmarthenshire 5 0.11x
Cornwall 5 0.04x
Dorset 5 0.07x
Berkshire 4 0.05x
Ross-shire 4 0.13x
Suffolk 4 0.03x
Cardiganshire 2 0.08x
Flintshire 2 0.07x
Herefordshire 2 0.05x
Nairnshire 2 0.61x
Anglesey 1 0.05x
Bedfordshire 1 0.02x
Oxfordshire 1 0.02x
Pembrokeshire 1 0.03x
Rutland 1 0.13x
Westmorland 1 0.04x

Top districts and towns

Districts give a more local view than counties. Total shows raw records, while frequency and index show local concentration. Edinburgh St Cuthberts in Midlothian leads with 730 Dicksons recorded in 1881 and an index of 12.52x.

Place Total Index
Edinburgh St Cuthberts 730 12.52x
Barony 403 4.55x
Govan 328 3.79x
Glasgow 325 5.23x
South Leith 240 14.72x
Dundee 128 3.42x
Tranent 118 60.96x
Lasswade 87 26.26x
Lanark 81 28.78x
Liverpool 81 1.04x
Liff Benvie 80 5.26x
St Pancras London 78 0.90x
Maryhill 72 10.51x
Dumfries 71 30.12x
Selkirk 70 25.39x
Lesmahagow 69 18.65x
Cambusnethan 68 8.75x
Dalkeith 67 23.44x
Linlithgow 63 30.16x
Kirkdale 60 2.78x
Lambeth 59 0.63x
Inveresk 55 14.02x
Falkirk 54 5.78x
Hackney London 53 0.87x
Kelso 53 27.14x
Peebles 52 34.58x
Haddington 50 23.64x
Melrose 50 29.52x
New Monkland 50 4.84x
Preston 50 1.46x
Aberdeen Old Machar 49 2.34x
Troqueer 49 23.85x
Edinburgh St Stephens 48 16.83x
Bothwell 47 4.95x
Berwick Upon Tweed 46 13.49x
Biggar 46 58.16x
Gateshead 46 1.91x
Old Monkland 46 3.31x
West Derby 46 1.22x
Abbey 45 3.52x
Galashiels 43 11.89x
Battersea 42 1.06x
Blantyre 42 11.53x
Hamilton 42 4.30x
Everton 40 0.98x
Newington 39 0.98x
Rutherglen 37 7.21x
Edinburgh Buccleuch 36 10.50x
West Greenock 36 2.39x
Campsie 35 15.99x
Inverness 35 4.31x
Hawick 34 7.75x
Kensington London 34 0.57x
Newbattle 34 27.45x
Salford 34 0.90x
St Luke London 34 1.96x
Temple 34 59.01x
Aberdeen St Nicholas 33 1.76x
Dalmellington 33 13.86x
Edinburgh St Marys 33 11.71x
St Marylebone London 33 0.57x
Canonbie 31 30.53x
Dunfermline 31 3.15x
Mouswald 31 149.76x
Tweedmouth 31 15.45x
Dunbar 30 14.93x
Hulme 30 1.12x
Montrose 30 4.94x
Coldingham 29 24.63x
Coldstream 29 30.59x
North Leith 29 4.32x
Chirnside 28 49.88x
Edinburgh Canongate 28 7.59x
Wilton 28 13.02x
Eyemouth 27 24.70x
Ormiston 27 71.07x
Paisley High Church 27 4.05x
St Quivox 27 9.86x
Toxteth Park 27 0.62x
Camberwell 26 0.38x

Top female names

These are the female first names most often recorded with the Dickson surname in 1881. Names are not merged, so initials, variant spellings and transcription quirks can appear as separate rows.

Name Count
Mary 233
Elizabeth 135
Jane 102
Margaret 86
Sarah 72
Eliza 52
Annie 48
Ellen 47
Ann 44
Alice 43
Isabella 39
Emily 36
Agnes 35
Emma 34
Janet 22
Catherine 21
Hannah 21
Maria 21
Martha 21
Ada 20
Harriet 20
Edith 17
Jessie 17
Louisa 17
Caroline 16
Florence 14
Anne 13
Kate 13
Susan 13
Charlotte 12
Fanny 12
Lucy 12
Rebecca 11
Clara 10
Frances 10
Margret 10
Amelia 9
Elizth. 9
Harriett 8
Henrietta 7
Minnie 7
Amy 6
Barbara 6
Ethel 6
Grace 6
Helen 6
Laura 6
Lizzie 6
Margt. 6
Jemima 5

Top male names

These are the male first names most often recorded with the Dickson surname in 1881. Names are not merged, so initials, variant spellings and transcription quirks can appear as separate rows.

Name Count
John 234
William 202
James 139
Thomas 118
George 110
Robert 81
Charles 57
Joseph 44
Henry 39
David 28
Francis 28
Alexander 27
Alfred 27
Edward 26
Frederick 23
Andrew 21
Walter 21
Richard 19
Arthur 18
Samuel 14
Albert 12
Wm. 11
Adam 10
Thos. 10
Ernest 9
Frank 8
Fred 8
Harry 7
Jas. 7
Robt. 7
Edwin 6
Herbert 6
Mark 5
Peter 5
Tom 5
Benjamin 4
Edmund 4
Edwd. 4
Lewis 4
Norman 4
Augustus 3
Fredrick 3
Geo. 3
Harold 3
Horace 3
Infant 3
Matthew 3
Philip 3
Reginald 3
Jno. 2

FAQ

Dickson surname: questions and answers

How common was the Dickson surname in 1881?

In 1881, 11,181 people were recorded with the Dickson surname. That placed it at #383 in the surname rankings for that year.

How common is the Dickson surname today?

The latest modern count shown here is 15,252 in 2016. That gives Dickson a modern rank of #415.

What does the Dickson surname mean?

Son of Dick, a diminutive of Richard, meaning "brave power" or "rich in power."

What does the Dickson map show?

The map shows local surname concentration for the selected year. Darker areas have a stronger concentration of Dickson bearers relative to the surrounding population.

What records is this surname page based on?

The historical counts come from census surname records. The modern counts and neighbourhood summaries come from later surname distribution records. Counts are recorded bearers in those records, not a live estimate of everyone with the name today.