Dixon
An Old English masculine name meaning "dweller at the dyke settlement".
Name Census estimates that about 2,271 living Americans carry the first name Dixon. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Dixon today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dixon births was 2016 (80 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dixon. 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 Dixon with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.3K
~ 1 in 150,927 Americans
Peak year
2016
80 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,671
Tracked since 1881
Census
Dixon in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,657 people with the first name Dixon, which placed it at #6,122 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
#6,122
National first-name rank
People counted
2.7K
2,657 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
61.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dixon
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dixon is White at 61.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (20.3%) and Black (8.4%). 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 Dixon 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 Dixon at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White61.6% · 1,638
- Hispanic or Latino20.3% · 540
- Black or African American8.4% · 224
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.3% · 141
- Two or more races3.4% · 91
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 23
Gender
Gender distribution for Dixon
Out of the 3,045 babies given the name Dixon since 1880, 99.8% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Dixon as a male name
- Ranked #2,671 in 2024
- 49 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2014 (75 births)
Dixon as a female name
- Ranked #16,941 in 2016
- 5 female births in 2016
- Peak: 2016 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dixon leans strongly male. 2,516 people counted with this name were male (94.7%), compared with 142 female bearers (5.3%).
Popularity
Dixon: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dixon from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 628 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Dixon remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dixon 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 Dixon during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dixons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 13 states and territories. Texas, California, New York recorded the most babies named Dixon, while Virginia, Tennessee, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 21 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dixon
The name Dixon is an English given name derived from the surname Dixon, which has its origins in the Old English word "dic" meaning a dyke or ditch-maker. It is believed to have first emerged as an occupational surname during the 12th century, referring to individuals who were responsible for constructing and maintaining dykes or ditches.
During the Middle Ages, the name Dixon was primarily concentrated in the northern counties of England, particularly in areas such as Yorkshire and Lancashire, where there was a significant need for dyke-makers to manage the region's waterways and drainage systems. Over time, the name gained popularity and spread to other parts of the country.
While there are no known historical references to the name Dixon in ancient texts or religious scriptures, records from the 16th and 17th centuries indicate that it was in use as both a surname and a given name. One of the earliest documented individuals with the first name Dixon was Sir Dixon Dixey, an English soldier and politician who lived from 1586 to 1649.
In the 18th century, Dixon gained further prominence as a given name. Notable individuals from this period include Dixon Denham (1786-1828), an English explorer and soldier who led expeditions into West Africa, and Dixon Hoppen (1786-1855), a British naval officer who served during the Napoleonic Wars.
The 19th century saw the name Dixon continue to be used, with several notable figures bearing it. Among them were Dixon Wecter (1875-1950), an American historian and author known for his biographies of literary figures, and Dixon Dey (1876-1943), an American football player and coach who was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
In the 20th century, the name Dixon maintained its popularity, with several individuals achieving recognition in various fields. One of the most well-known was Dixon Merritt (1879-1972), an American composer and conductor who worked extensively in the film industry. Another notable figure was Dixon Graham Browne (1887-1959), a British educator and writer who served as the headmaster of Eton College.
Other individuals with the first name Dixon include Dixon Brinsmead (1916-2005), an Australian painter and sculptor; Dixon Sternberg (1920-2001), an American biophysicist and pioneering researcher in molecular biology; and Dixon King (1923-2012), an English actor and playwright known for his work in television and theater.
People
Dixon + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dixon 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
Dixon: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dixon?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,271 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dixon 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 150,927 US residents.
Is Dixon a common name?
We classify Dixon as "Rare". It ranks above 94.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,045 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dixon most popular?
The single biggest year for Dixon was 2016, when 80 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dixon is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dixon in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,657 people with the name Dixon, or 0.88 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,122 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 Dixon 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 Dixon?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dixon leans strongly male. 2,516 people counted with this name were male (94.7%), compared with 142 female bearers (5.3%). 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 Dixon?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dixon is White at 61.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (20.3%) and Black (8.4%). 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 Dixon most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Dixon in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.6% (1,638 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 Dixon in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dixon a male name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Dixon 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 Dixon still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dixon 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 Dixon 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 Americans are named Dixon?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.