This interesting surname, of English origin, is a metronymic from a pet form of the medieval female given name "Dennis", itself deriving from the Greek female personal name "Dionysia". The surname is most common in Norfolk, but it is also found in Yorkshire. The first recording of the name dates back to the late 13th Century (see below), and further early recordings include: Ralph Dyson (1296) in the Subsidy Rolls of Sussex, and John Dyesson (1387) in the Register of the Freemen of the City of York. Variations in the idiom of the spelling include: Disson, Dison and Dyason. Recordings from London Church Registers include: the christening of Edmund Dyson at St. Mary Whitechapel, Stepney, on October 7th 1565; the christening of Anne, daughter of James Disson, at St. Botolph without Aldgate, on April 7th 1571; and the marriage of John Dyson and Annes Hooker on June 2nd 1572, at St. Margaret's, Westminster. J. Dyson, aged 24 yrs., a famine emigrant, sailed from Liverpool aboard the "Hector" bound for New York in January 1847. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard Dysun, which was dated 1275, in the "Hundred Rolls of London", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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