This surname is derived from the name of an ancestor. —the son of Richard.' from the nick. Dick, which ran a severe race for popularity with Hick (which see), and finally monopolized the public favour. With Dixon and Dix, compare Rixon and Rix of the same parentage. Nix and Nixon are also parallel cases.

William Dycks: Visit, of Yorks (1563).

William Dix, ibid.

Thomas Dykkes, rector of Bodney, Norfolk, 1431: History of Norfolk.

William Dykk, rector of Godwick, 1420: ibid.

Willelmus Dycson, 1379: Poll Tax of Yorkshire.

Rogerus Dikson, 1379: ibid.

1557. Baptised — John Dyxonne, St. Peter, Cornhill.

1569-70. William Dixsonne and Judith Madewell: Marriage Lic. (London).

1668. Married — Robert Dickes and Elizabeth Sanders: St. James, Clerkenwell.

1669. — Edward Biges and Mary Dicke: ibid.

A diminutive of Richard, which see. Anderson (Scot. Nat., II, p. 31) errs in saying that William de Dyck was first magistrate of Edinburgh (1296) the magistrate's name was Deaeryk. John Dic, witness in Ayr, 1490 (Ayr, p. 94), Wille Dic was 'dekin of the bakstaris' of Stirling, 1526 (SBR., p. 28), John Dyk or Dik was bailie of David, earl of Craufurd in Perthshire, 1547 (Gaw, 46), and Alexander Dik was archdean of Glasgow, 1555 (REG., p. 581—582). Sir William Dick of Braid, owner (for his time) of the vast fortune of £226,000 (equal to more than £2,000,000 at the present day), financier of the armies of the Covenant and upholder of the Stewart cause, had his reward by dying of starvation in a debtor's prison in Westminster, 1658. Sir Charles Dick, lineal descendant of Sir William, acting as custodian of the Brighton Museum, renewed application in 1873 for the meagre pension which had been continued under successive sovereigns till 1845 (Wilson, Memorials of Edinburgh, II, p. 10).

This is the English form of Scottish Dickson, which see.

A diminutive of Richard, q.v.

(German, English) The large or fat man; descendant of Dick, a pet form of Richard (rule, hard).

(from a personal characteristic) “Stout,” in German.

is Dick's son, that is Richard's son. "In Scotland it has been variously written at different periods, as Dicson, Dykson, Dikson, Diksoun, Diksoune, Dixson, and Dickson. They are descended from one Richard Keith, said to be a son of the family of Keith, earls-marshal of Scotland, and in proof thereof they carry in their anna the chief of Keith Mareschal. This Richard was commonly called Dick, and his sons, with the carelessess of that age, were styled "Dickson." It is probable that he was the son of the great Marshal, Hervey de Keth, (ob. 1249,) by his wife Margaret, daughter of William, third lord Douglas." Dixon on Surnames. Boston, IT. S., 1857. The Irish Dixons came from Scotland, in a clan, in the reign of Henry VIII. In 1617, if not earlier, they bore the arms of the English Dixons, which goes far to prove community of origin for the Dixons, Dicksons, &c., of the three kingdoms. The oldest spelling in Ireland is Dykesone. Inf. Sir Erasmus Dixon Borrowes, Bart. The great baron of Malpas, co. Chester, William Belward, had two sons, David and Richard. The latter's third son, Richard, surnamed Little, on account of his diminutive size, had two sons, the younger of whom was John, who received the surname of Richardson (Filius Ricardi) from his father'a Chriatian name. It has been conjectured that some of the Dixons of the North of England, who trace their pedigree to the county of Chester, may be descendants of that John Richardson, alias Dick's son.

An abbreviation of Richard. The family are supposed to be of Danish origin, and to be the same as Van Dyke. William de Dyck, Alderman of Edinburgh, 1296, was the ancestor of some of the Scottish families of Dick.

The familiar abbreviation of Richard. It may come from the Dutch Dyck, a bank or dike, a bulwark thrown up in the Low Countries against the sea or rivers to prevent inundation.

N. Dica occurs in Normandy 1195 (Magni Rotuli Scaccarii Normanniae); Hamo and John Dike of England, c. 1272 (Rotuli Hundredorum).

Dixon.-Very frequent in the English counties on the Scottish border. It is fairly represented in the midland counties and in the south - east of England, but is rare in the south - west counties. Dickenson is also a north - country name. Dickson, the Scottish form of the name, characterises central and southern Scotland.

The surname Richardson derives from one of the most popular first names in the land. The name Richard was brought to England by the Normans in 1066, and its origins are Germanic. It began life as the name Richard which, in Old German, means ‘powerful-brave’.

Richard was popular right from the start and appears as a first name many times in the Domesday Book, usually Latinised to Ricardus. It was further popularised out of admiration for the valiant efforts of Richard I (known as ‘The Lionheart’). Even the exploits of the next two Richards (especially the notorious hunchbacked Richard III) failed to dim its popularity.

Naturally, Richard soon began to spawn a whole number of diminutives and variations. Dick was one of the first and is still the most common-as is seen in the phrase ‘every Tom, Dick and Harry’. The variation Dick gave rise to the surnames Dickens, Dickenson and Dickson.

Richard, in its standard form, gave rise to the surnames Richard, Richardson and Richards. The surname Richards-‘descendent of, dependent of, Richard’-is most common in Cornwall, South Wales and the Midlands. Richardson, on the other hand, is common all over the country, with the excep­tion of the West Country. The name is most popular in the north.

Other derivatives of the first name Richard (most of which have died out) gave rise to such widespread surnames as Hick, Hitch, Richie, Richey, and Rick (Ricks and Rickson), also Rich (though this is sometimes derived from a nickname), Richett (from the Old French diminutive Richot), and Rickman (which means ‘servant of Richard’). Hud, sometimes a pet name for Richard, is more usually used for Hugh (see Hughes). Hitchmough and Hickmott both mean ‘Richard’s brother-in-law’.

The earliest mention of a form of this name as a surname is in the Hundred Rolls of 1276 for Oxford. There one Thomas Richard is mentioned.

Versatile British physicist and psychologist Lewis Fry Richard­son (1881—1953) first applied mathematical techniques to predict the weather reasonably accurately. He died in Kilmun, Argyllshire, one of the wettest spots on Scotland’s west coast.

I.A. Richards (b. 1893) English literary critic and semantics expert, was co-author of The Meaning of Meaning. Despite the seeming circularity of the title, it is one of the most influential books ever written on the symbolism of language.

Richardson’s Number is the parameter used to predict the occurrence of fluid turbulence.

Richardson and its related names have been held by some of literature’s most lasting figures. Samuel Richardson (1689— 1761) is the founder of the English domestic novel. As a young man he was so proficient as a letter writer that others employed him to compose their correspondence. This led to his first successful book Familiar Letters, a how-to guide to letter composition. Novels, starting with Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded, all in epistolatory form, followed and all were vastly popular. Charles Dickens (1812—78) possibly the best­ loved author of all time, drew on his impoverished childhood to write novels that exposed the hypocrisies and evils of Victorian England. All were first published in monthly instalments.

The phrase ‘a Dickensian childhood’ has since entered the language.

In the United Kingdom one place name relates directly to this surname-Richards Castle. Canada has towns called Richard, Richards Landing and Richardson Station while the United States has 6 related-name towns. Geographic namesakes are common and include mountains in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, the Richards Deep in the Pacific and Richardsbreen glacier in Norway.

With about 104,000 namesakes Richardson is the 51st most popular surname in England and Wales. (The name is not common enough throughout Scotland to be counted separately.) Richardson is notably popular in and around Teesside where an estimated one in about 245 families bears the name. In descending numerical order Leeds, Nottingham and Bradford are other Richardson strongholds. Around the world Richards and Richardsons are most common in Canberra (one in 461 families), Wellington (one in 507) and Ottawa (one in 527). The United States tallies Richards and Richardsons together-an estimated combined total of 429,000 makes this their 34th most popular surname.