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Nicknames for Dixie

Dix, Dick, Ixie, Ix, Pixie,

Meanings and history of the name Dixie

Dixie is a nickname for the southern United States. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the origins of this nickname remain obscure. According to A Dictionary of Americanisms on Historical Principles (1951), by Mitford M. Mathews, three theories most commonly attempt to explain the term:

1. The word "Dixie" refers to privately issued currency from banks in Louisiana. These banks issued ten-dollar notes, labeled "Dix", French for "ten", on the reverse side. These notes are now highly sought-after for their numismatic value. The notes were known as "Dixies" by English-speaking southerners, and the area around New Orleans and the Cajun-speaking parts of Louisiana came to be known as "Dixieland". Eventually, usage of the term broadened to refer to most of the Southern States.
2. The word preserves the name of a "Mr. Dixy", a 'kind' slave owner on Manhattan Island, where slavery was legal until 1827. His rule was so kindly that "Dixy's Land" became famed far and wide as an elysium abounding in material comforts.
3. "Dixie" derives from Jeremiah Dixon of the Mason-Dixon line which defined the border between Maryland and Pennsylvania, and, for the most part, free and slave states (a small portion of Delaware, a Union border state, and slave state up to the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, lay north of the boundary.)

The states of Dixie include West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, North & South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Kentucky.

Famous real-life people named Dixie

Dixie Baronets, thirteen holders of an English baronetcy created in 1660
Dixie Carter, actress best known for her role as Julia Sugarbaker in the 1980 TV series "Designing Women"
Dixie Carter (wrestling), businesswoman
Dixie Dean, English footballer
Dixie, the ring name of professional wrestler Brian Brower
Dixie Willis, an Australian middle distance runner
Lady Florence Dixie (1855-1905), British feminist author
Dixie Pearl Followill (b. 2012), daughter of American musician Caleb Followill

Dixie in song, story & screen

Dixie (Pee-wee's Playhouse), a taxi-cab driver character
Dixie, the mouse and title character in the animated series Pixie and Dixie and Mr. Jinks
Dixie Chicks, a country music group
Dixie Cooney, a character on the daytime television show All My Children
Dixie Kong, an animated game character from Nintendo's Donkey Kong series
Dixie Clemets, a character in the video games Rumble Roses and Rumble Roses
Winn-Dixie, dog in the book "Because of Winn-Dixie"