A General History of the Nix Family Name

So far we have been sent three examples of coat of arms carried by Nix individuals in the past, which are seen below. They appear to be of two basic types. The left pair are Irish, and the right one is German in origin. The German example was owned by Reinhard Nix von Hoheneck/Enzberg, a knight from the Wuerttemberg area of NW Germany around 1342. If anyone else has other examples of Nix armorial bearings, by all means send them in.

Nixes of Note! Please send in your Links and Information on noteworthy Nixes to include in this section!

List of Nix/Nicks families in the US Census

1790 Census 1790 census records exist for Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, and Virginia (VA records lost, but reconstructed) only. 1790 census records for all other states and territories were lost.
1800 Census 1800 census records exist for Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Vermont. 1800 census records for all other states and territories were lost.
1810 Census 1810 census records exist except for Georgia, Delaware, New Jersey, and various non-state territories whose records were lost.
1820 Census 1820 census records exist except for Alabama, Florida, New Jersey, and various non-state territories whose records were lost.
1830 Census 1830 census records exist for all states and organized territories.
1840 Census 1840 census records exist for all states and organized territories.
1850 Census and Nix DNA Project Distribution Map. 1850 Census records exist for all states and organized territories.

What does the Nix name mean?

(noun) A water sprite of German Mythology.
(noun) Nothing; nil; nada; null; aught; cipher; cypher; naught; zero; zilch; zip
(adverb) Not so; no.
(tr.verb) To forbid; to refuse; to veto.
[Latin] snow
[Greek] mythological Goddess of Night

Whats are some modern acronyms that are commonly abbreviated as N.I.X. or NIX? NASA Image Exchance, Neutral Internet eXchange (Czech), Non-Interest Exense, Norwegian Internet Exchance, Unix

Where is the last name Nix from? The last name Nix is of European origin. The name is frequently found in the British Isles (and its former colonies). There are also many Nix families in Germany (and a fewer number in neighboring Holland, Finland, and Poland). There are also some African-American and Afro-Caribbean Nix families. So far, the DNA project has revealed there are several genetically distinct and unrelated groups of Nixes, which is not surprising considering the widespread geographic range of the name.

How did Nix become a last name?

Most linguists believe it originated as a patronymic from an abbreviated familiar form 'Nicholas' or 'son of Nicholas'. Essentially, this means that the first person in many families to carry this surname was the son of a man named Nicholas (or some variant spelling of that name), and furthermore abbreviated the name Nicholas into a shortened version such as Nick or Nicks. There are of course many surnames that developed from the same patronymic root origins, such as: Nicholas, Nicholason, Nichols, Nicholson, Nicks, Nickson, Nixon, MacNicholas, Nicolai, etc, etc.
Certain German families may have adopted the surname Nix from the Middle High German word nickes (nixe, nixie) which refers to the mythological ‘water sprites’ of Germanic folklore.
The name may also derive from the use of "Nix" as a slang word for "nothing". It may have denoted a person who did not have any other last name. It may also have been used as an alias by persons who wished to hide their last name, such as the famous English highwayman "Swift Nix".