A Scottish, Irish and English surname, Dickson comes from the name Richard and its shorter version of Dick, making the family name of Dickson, the son of Dick. The German terms of ‘dic’ or ‘dick’ mean a thick undergrowth of vegetation. The spelling variations for Dickson include Dickenson, Dixon, Dickinson, Dyckson, Dicson, Dixoun, Dikson, Dicksoun and Dyxson. In England the greater concentration of Dickson individuals are in the northern regions, in Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cheshire, Northumberland, Durham and south in the city of London. In Scotland the Dickson surname is very popular. The family name first started in the Kirkcudbrightshire region with the Keith clan and the a son named Richard Keith. The counties with the higher Dickson population are Lanarkshire, Midlothian, Angus, East Lothian and Dumfries-shire. Many Dickson families later moved into England and some to Ireland. Within the United States the earliest Dickson families settled in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Ohio, New York, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Alabama and South Carolina. Famous: Lance Dickson (professional baseball player), Paul Dickson (writer), Robert B. Dickson (professional golfer), Barbara Ruth Dickson (singer and actress from Scotland), Earle Dickson (invented the Band-Aid product for adhesive bandages), Tom Dickson (champion figurer skater), Gordon Rupert Dickson (science fiction writer), Dorothy Dickson (actress), Lee Dickson (rugby player from England) and William K. Dickson (invented the first practical celluloid film for Edison’s motion picture equipment).