Dick is a nickname most often for Richard, which likely originated in the Middle Ages as a rhyming nickname for "Rick", similarly to the development of William → Will → Bill and Robert → Rob → Bob. Dick is a cliché name for any man, as in Tom, Dick and Harry. The use of the nickname Dick has declined drastically in recent decades due to the association of Dick with a penis; by 1969, Dick had fallen outside of the top 1,000 most common names for newborn baby boys in the US. By 2014, there were fewer than five babies born in the United States with the name Dick on a birth certificate.
Notable people named Dick include:
Dick Advocaat (born 1947), Dutch football manager and former player
Dick Ambrose (born 1953), American football linebacker in the National Football League
Dick Anthony (1939–2022), American forensic psychologist
Dick Armey (born 1940), American politician
Dick Assman (1934–2016), Canadian gas station worker
Dick Attlesey (1929–1984), American hurdler
Dick Ault (1925–2007), American hurdler
Dick Axelsson (born 1987), Swedish ice hockey player
Dick Barber (1910–1983), American long jumper
Dick Bavetta (born 1939), American National Basketball Association referee
Dick Benschop (born 1957), Dutch politician and corporate executive
Dick Berlijn (born 1950), retired Royal Netherlands Air Force four-star general and former Chief of Defence of the Netherlands
Dick Blair (1937–2013), Australian boxer, pastor, and community leader
Dick Blumenthal, (born 1946), American politician
Dick Butkus (1942–2023), American football player, sports commentator, and actor
Dick Button (1929–2025), American figure skater and skating analyst
Dick Cavett (born 1936), American television talk show host
Dick Cheney (1941–2025), American politician, 46th vice president of the United States
Dick Clark (disambiguation)
Dick Clark (1929–2012), American radio and television personality
Dick Conger (1921–1970), American major league baseball pitcher
Dick Contino (1930–2017), American accordionist
Dick Costolo (born 1963), American businessman, former CEO of Twitter
Dick Couch, American writer
Dick Cox (1897–1966), American baseball player
Dick Dale (1937–2019), American musician known as "King of the Surf Guitar"
Dick Davis (disambiguation)
Dick Deer Slayer, American football player
Dick Dietz (1941–2005), American baseball player
Dick Durbin (born 1944), American politician and United States senator
Dick Donner
Dick Enberg (1935–2017), American sportscaster
Dick Fencl (1910–1972), American football player
Dick Gordon (disambiguation)
Dick Graves (1912–1990), American casino owner
Dick Gregory (1932–2017), American civil rights activist and comedian
Dick Groat (1930–2023), American baseball and basketball player
Dick Head (footballer) (1887–1940), Australian rules footballer
Dick Hoblitzell (1888–1962), American Major League Baseball player
Dick Hurley (1847–aft. 1916), American baseball player
Dick Ives (1926–1997), American basketball player
Dick Jensen (1942–2006), American musical performer
Dick Johnson (academic) (1929–2019), Australian Classics professor and senior public servant
Dick Johnson (clarinetist) (1925–2010), American big band clarinetist with the Artie Shaw Band
Dick Johnson (footballer) (1895–1933), English footballer
Dick Johnson (glider pilot) (1923–2008), glider pilot, aeronautical engineer and writer
Dick Johnson (reporter) (1953–2020), American television news anchor and reporter
Dick Johnson (test pilot) (1917–2002), founding member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots
Dick Johnson (racing driver) (born 1945), Australian racing driver and team owner
Dick Johnson (rugby league) (1916–1984), Australian rugby league footballer
Dick Johnson (sailor) (1923–2005), sailor from United States Virgin Islands
Dick Johnson, subject of Dick Johnson Is Dead, a 2020 American documentary about a man with dementia
Dick Johnston (1863–1934), American baseball player
Dick Johnston (journalist) (1919–2008), Canadian sportswriter
Dick Kavner, trade unionist
Dick Kempthorn (1926–2019), American collegiate athlete, Air Force pilot, and businessman
Dick King (1811–1871), English trader and colonist in Africa
Dick King (American football) (1895–1930), American football player
Dick King (politician) (1934–2018), American politician
Dick King-Smith (1922–2011), English author
Dick Lee (disambiguation)
Dick Marx (1924–1997), American jazz musician
Dick Murdoch (1946–1996), American professional wrestler
Dick Pole (born 1950), American baseball player and coach
Dick Pound (born 1942), Canadian swimming champion and first president of the World Anti-Doping Agency
Dick Powell (1904–1963), American actor and musician
Dick Reynolds (1915–2002), Australian rules footballer
Dick Ricketts (1933–1988), American basketball and baseball player
Dick Roth (1947–2025), American 1964 Olympic gold medalist swimmer
Dick Rutkowski, American diving medicine pioneer
Dick Sargent (1930–1994), American actor
Dick Savitt (1927–2023), American tennis player
Dick Schoof (born 1957), Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 2024 to 2026
Dick Schweidler (1914–2010), American football player
Dick Shawn (1923–1987), American actor and comedian
Dick Shikat (1897–1968), German professional wrestler and world heavyweight champion
Dick Shiner (born 1942), American football player
Dick Smith (entrepreneur), Australian businessman
Dick Smothers (born 1939), one of the American folk singer-comedian duo the Smothers Brothers
Dick Stanfel (1927–2015), American football player
Dick Such (born 1944), American baseball player and coach
Dick Tarnstrom (born 1975), Swedish ice hockey player
Dick Tayler (born 1948), New Zealand long-distance runner
Dick Teague (1923–1991), American industrial designer
Dick Thornburgh (1932–2024), American politician, Governor of Pennsylvania, and United States Attorney General
Dick Trickle (1941–2013), American race car driver
Dick Turpin (1705–1739), English highwayman executed for horse theft
Dick Van Dyke (born 1925), American actor, comedian, writer and producer
Dick Van Patten (1928–2015), American actor
Dick Vermeil (born 1936), National Football League coach
Dick Vitale (born 1939), American basketball sportscaster
Dick Wagner (baseball) (1927–2006), American baseball executive
Dick Weisgerber (1915–1984), player in the National Football League
Dick Wolf, American television producer
Dick Woodson (born 1945), American baseball player
Dick York (1928–1992), American actor
Fictional characters
Dick and Jane, main characters in a children's reading book series
Dick Baker, from the co-op mode of Dead Rising 3
Dick Knubbler, from Adult Swim series Metalocalypse
Dick Gansey III, from The Raven Cycle, a series of fantasy novels by Maggie Stiefvater
Dick Grayson, the civilian identity of Robin and other superhero aliases in the DC Universe
Dick Gumshoe, from the visual novel series Ace Attorney
Dick Halloran, from the novel The Shining
Dick Harper, one of the title characters in a 1977 film Fun with Dick and Jane, remade in 2005
Dick Loudon, the protagonist the TV show Newhart
Dick Roman, in the TV show Supernatural
Dick Solomon, the High Commander of the alien visitors in 3rd Rock from the Sun
Dick Tracy, in the comic strip of the same name
Dick Whitman, the birth name of Donald Draper, the main character in Mad Men