Dicus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dicks is one of several spellings of a surname that has also been used to represent several apparently unrelated surnames. Other most common spellings of the surname Dicus with the same pronunciation as Dicks are Dykes and Dycks.
The Dicks family in the United States is mostly descended from William and Mary Dicks, who emigrated from Chester, England, near the border of Wales, to Chestertown, on Maryland's Eastern Shore, a generation before the American Revolution. Three of their six children began the family's three major branches. John and his children moved into Pennsylvania and New York and then followed the Westward Expansion. James and his children moved across Chesapeake Bay to Baltimore and Ellicott City, Maryland, and many of their descendants remain in Maryland. Edward and his children moved to the Blue Ridge of Virginia and from there into the southern Appalachians and through the U.S. South. Dicks family etymology was a lifetime avocation of Rufus Dicks of Baltimore, who researched church records in the early to middle 1900s, and a cousin, Jacob Dicks 8th, has built on his work through extensive Internet research in recent years. The former thought the name might originally be Dutch, while the latter found a plausible Welsh derivation.
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[edit] Etymology
[edit] Wales
The Welsh name Deicws was a pet form of David that has fallen out of common use. It has since evolved into a popular surname in Dodleston, Cheshire, England and Wales with the most popular spelling variations being Dicks, Dics, and Dycks. The Welsh version of the name seems to have emerged several times with related or unrelated Welshman emigrating to England and America. One English example is Thomas Dicks, a prominent book seller in London, born about 1633 in Dodleston who subsequently emigrated to London as an apprentice.
An American example is one James ap Deiks (spelled using the Welsh patronymic system,) who was born about 1709 and emigrated to America in servitude. Upon arriving in America, his name became James Dicks,the name later evolving to Dicks. Deiks was usually changed to Dics in the northern United States. and to Dykes in the southern United States.
[edit] The Netherlands
The Dutch name Dijk Huis, (Dykehouse) appears in the United States in the 1900s, and was also changed to Diks and Dyks upon or after immigration.
[edit] Other antecedents
The surnames Dykes and DeCocks (DeCauks?) seem to have also evolved into Dycs, Dicox and DeCox in some instances.
[edit] Uses other than as a surname
It should be noted that Dicks is also a proper word in other languages including Latin, French, and Portuguese.
