Hickisson

Recorded as Hicks, Hickson, Hixon, and the much rarer double patronymic Hickisson, this is an English surname. It is medieval and derived from the famous pre 7th century Anglo-Saxon and Germanic personal name "Richard". In medieval times this was the most popular personal name of the period, and was strongly promoted by the exploits of King Richard 1st of England, who lead the famous Crusaders in the Holy Land between the year 1180 and his death in 1199. He was known to history as 'The Lionheart'. It is said that the name as Dick(son) and Hick(son) evolved because the native English found it difficult to pronounce the Norman "R". This seems a little odd given that the name was well known in England before the Norman Conqest of 1066. Be that as it may over the next four centuries the name developed many variants of which this is one. Early examples of recordings include Willelmus Hykeson in the Poll Tax rolls of Yorkshire in 1379, John Hixon of Cambridge in 1450, whilst James Hickisson is recorded in the surviving church registers of the city of London on March 7th 1769. He married Mary Wakefield at the famous church of St Mary-le-Bone. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was sometimes known as the Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.