Find out how popular the last name Dicks is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Dicks.

Dicks, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Dicks surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Dicks in America

Dicks is the 7831st most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Dicks surname appeared 4,228 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Dicks.

We can also compare 2010 data for Dicks to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Dicks

The surname Dicks originated in England in the medieval period, derived from the nickname "Dick", a diminutive form of the given name Richard. The name Richard came from the Germanic elements "ric" (ruler) and "hard" (brave, hardy). The use of diminutive nicknames like Dick was a common practice in medieval times.

The earliest known record of the surname Dicks can be found in the Hundred Rolls of Cambridgeshire from 1273, where it appears as "Dik". The Hundred Rolls were administrative records compiled in the 13th century, documenting individuals who held land and their feudal obligations.

In the 14th century, the name is recorded in various spellings, including "Dyk", "Dyke", and "Dycke", in tax rolls and court records from counties like Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex. These variations likely reflect regional dialect differences in pronunciation and spelling conventions of the time.

One of the earliest known bearers of the surname was John Dycke, recorded in the Pipe Rolls of Bedfordshire in 1384. The Pipe Rolls were financial records maintained by the Exchequer, detailing tax assessments and payments.

Several place names in England, such as Dickleburgh in Norfolk and Dickens Heath in Solihull, are believed to have derived from the surname Dicks or its variants, reflecting the influence of early bearers of the name in those areas.

Notable historical figures with the surname Dicks include Sir Michael Dicks (1570-1628), a prominent English merchant and member of the Honourable Artillery Company in London. Another was Thomas Dicks (1628-1695), an English Baptist minister and author who published several religious works during the 17th century.

In the 18th century, John Dicks (1720-1801) was a renowned English printer and publisher, known for producing affordable editions of literary works for the working class. His son, Robert Dicks (1765-1846), continued the family publishing business and was also a respected bookseller in London.

William Dicks (1815-1887) was a prominent English educator and author, serving as the headmaster of the South London Grammar School and writing several textbooks on subjects like mathematics and geography.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Dicks

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Dicks.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Dicks was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Dicks has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Dicks was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Dicks, please contact us.

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!