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

Dillion, 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 Dillion surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Dillion in America

Dillion is the 16407th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Dillion surname appeared 1,754 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 Dillion.

We can also compare 2010 data for Dillion 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 Dillion

The surname Dillion has its origins in Ireland, with records dating back to the 16th century. The name is derived from the Irish Gaelic Ó Diolúin, meaning "descendant of Diolún," which is believed to be a pet form of the name Diarmaid.

The Dillons were a prominent Irish clan based in County Westmeath, with their ancestral lands centered around the town of Kilkenny West. The name is first recorded in the Annals of the Four Masters, a chronicle of medieval Irish history compiled in the early 17th century.

One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name was Sir James Dillon, a 16th-century Irish soldier and landowner who served as Lord President of Connacht in the 1580s. Another notable figure was Theobald Dillon, 7th Viscount Dillon (1609-1676), a Catholic royalist who fought for King Charles I during the English Civil War.

In the 17th century, the Dillon family established branches in France, where the name was anglicized to "Dillon." Several members of this French branch achieved distinction, including Arthur Dillon (1670-1733), a Jacobite soldier and author, and his son Arthur Richard Dillon (1721-1806), a celebrated military commander who served in the French and Austrian armies.

Another notable bearer of the name was John Dillon (1851-1927), an Irish nationalist politician and one of the founders of the Irish Parliamentary Party. He served as a Member of Parliament for several decades and played a significant role in the struggle for Irish independence.

Other historical figures with the surname Dillion include Robert Dillon (1807-1868), a Canadian politician and judge, and Wilbur Dillon (1894-1967), an American football coach and athletic director at the University of Southern California.

The Dillion surname has also been associated with various place names, such as Dillonvale in Ohio and Dillon County in South Carolina, reflecting the spread of the name across different regions over time.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Dillion

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

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 Dillion 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 Dillion 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 Dillion was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Dillion, 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!