Dixie

This unusual and interesting surname, of English origin with variant spellings Dixey, Dixcee, Dixcey, Dixie, and Dicksee, is either a diminutive of Dick, a pet form of the personal name Richard, from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements "ric" meaning "power", plus "hard", hardy, brave, strong, or it may be from a nickname for a chorister, deriving from the Latin "dixi" meaning "I have spoken". The surname dates back to the late 13th Century (see below), and further recordings include one Robert Dysci (1301), a witness in the Feet of Fines of Hundingdonshire, and Alice Dixi (1379) in the Poll Tax Records of Yorkshire. Recordings from London Church Registers include: the christening of Anne Dixie on March 17th 1593, at St. Michael's, Bassishaw; the christening of Edward, son of Woolstone Dixie, on December 9th 1599, at St. Botolph without Aldgate; the christening of Anne, daughter of Thomas Dixie, on February 23rd 1605, also at St. Botolph without Aldgate. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Laurence Dixi, which was dated 1279, in the "Hundred Rolls of Cambridgeshire", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.