Dixie, also called Dixieland, is a name often given to the southern part of the United States. There are different explanations for this name. A Louisiana bank once printed $10 bills bearing the French word dix, which means ten. According to one story, people called Louisiana “Dix’s Land,” and then shortened it to Dixie. In time, Dixie came to mean the entire South. In another story, a slaveowner named Dixie, or Dixy, was said to be kind to his slaves. “Dixie’s Land” became known in many Southern stories as a happy, comfortable place to live. Gradually, the term came to refer to the South.
