>" (French for "ten"). Southerners took to calling these paper notes “Dixies” and the French-speaking parts of Louisiana “Dixieland.” But though this plaque sure seems official, it isn’t the only competing theory about the origin of the South’s nickname. Some believe the term was inspired by Jeremiah Dixon, one of the two men who surveyed the Mason-Dixon line. Regardless of its roots, the word "Dixie" was further solidified in American vernacular as the title of a song from the 1850s (indisputably the most enduring of the songs to come out of blackface minstrelsy), which was adopted as the unofficial national anthem of the Confederate states." tabindex="-1" aria-label="View all photos">