girl's name
Dixie
DIK-see
- Origin American
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 5
- Popularity Uncommon
- Births on record 46,049
Scotland
#715
2021 births
Dixie names the American South and nobody knows why — the leading account is a French ten-dollar note printed dix in Louisiana, and the rival is the Mason-Dixon line. Neither has been settled. The 1859 song fixed the word before anyone recorded its source.
- Dixie is a name of American origin.
- Peaked in 1938, when 1,246 babies were given the name.
- Its usage has held steady over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 25,503 babies in the United States is given this name.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Dixie over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1880s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 258 |
| 1890s | 387 |
| 1900s | 610 |
| 1910s | 2,087 |
| 1920s | 3,665 |
| 1930s | 8,994 |
| 1940s | 10,062 |
| 1950s | 6,845 |
| 1960s | 2,817 |
| 1970s | 1,705 |
| 1980s | 1,183 |
| 1990s | 995 |
| 2000s | 1,799 |
| 2010s | 2,831 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 1,135 |
What Dixie means
Dixie means the American South. The word's own origin is disputed, so the name carries a region rather than any translatable sense, and no account of where the word came from has been settled.
Where Dixie comes from
Dixie is the informal name for the American South, and its origin is genuinely unresolved. One account points to ten-dollar notes issued by a New Orleans bank marked dix, the French for ten, giving Dixieland. Another takes it from the Mason-Dixon line surveyed in the 1760s. A third suggests a landowner named Dixy. The song Dixie, written in 1859, fixed the word before anyone recorded where it came from.
Dixie in use
Dixie peaked in the United States in 1938, when 1,246 babies were registered, and our data marks it stable rather than falling. It now ranks 1605th in the United States on 130 births and 2201st in England and Wales on 13, across 46,049 lifetime births in two of the seven markets we track. England and Wales ran its own peak of 45 births in 2020, eighty years after the American one.
How popular is Dixie?
In 2025, Dixie was given to 130 babies in the United States. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Where Dixie is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Dixie
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Dixie also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Dixie over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Dixie in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Dixie
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Dixie — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Dixie
What does the name Dixie mean?
The American South. The word's own origin has never been settled.
Is it from the French for ten?
That is the leading account — dix on New Orleans banknotes — but it is not proven.
Is the Mason-Dixon line the source?
It is the main rival explanation, and equally unproven.
How popular is Dixie?
1605th in the United States, and stable rather than falling in our data.
Is Dixie a girl's or a boy's name?
Dixie is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Dixie?
Dixie has 2 syllables.
Is Dixie a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Dixie currently ranks #1,605 in the United States. Its usage has held steady over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.