Dexter (given name)
Dexter is an English masculine given name. It is a transferred use of a surname derived from the Old English word deagestre, meaning “dyer of cloth.” Dexter is also a Latin term meaning skillful. Usage of the name might have increased in the Anglosphere due to well-known figures such as American politician Samuel Dexter and wealthy American eccentric and author Timothy Dexter. More recently, attention was called to the name in the 1940s and 1950s by different media influences, including the character Dexter Haven in the 1940 American film The Philadelphia Story and the 1956 American musical High Society and the character Dexter Franklin in the Meet Corliss Archer radio and television program. Some 325 more American boys were named Dexter in 1968 than had been given the name in 1967, likely due to news coverage about the family of Martin Luther King Jr. after he was assassinated. Dexter King was one of King's sons. The name also increased in use in the United States in 1989 after the character Dex Dexter appeared on the American soap opera Dynasty and again between 2006 and 2012 due to the American television series Dexter.
Given name
- Dexter Allen, American blues musician
- Dexter Sol Ansell, English child actor
- Dexter Bean, American racing driver
- Dexter Blackstock, English football player
- Dexter Brown, British painter
- Dexter Canipe, American racing driver
- Dexter Carter, American football player and coach
- Dexter Coakley, American football player
- Dexter Edgar Converse, American businessman and philanthropist
- Dexter Curtis, American inventor and politician
- Dexter Dalwood, British painter
- Dexter Daniels (Aboriginal activist), Aboriginal Australian activist
- Dexter Daniels (American football), American football player
- Dexter Darden, American actor
- Dexter Davis (disambiguation), multiple people
- Dexter Doria, Filipino actress
- Dexter W. Draper, American football player and coach
- Dexter Dunphy, Australian academic
- Dexter Edge, American musicologist
- Dexter Faulk, American track and field athlete
- Dexter M. Ferry, American businessman
- Dexter M. Ferry Jr., American politician
- Dexter Filkins, American war correspondent
- Dexter Fitton, English cricketer
- Dexter Fletcher, British actor
- Dexter Fowler, American baseball player
- Dexter Goei, American business executive
- Dexter Gordon, American jazz tenor saxophonist
- Dexter Grimsley, American politician
- Dexter Gore Jr, American rapper and songwriter
- Dexter Holland, American punk rock singer and musician
- Dexter Hope, Dutch basketball player
- Dexter Horton, American banker
- Dexter Jackson (disambiguation), multiple people
- Dexter Janke, Canadian football player and coach
- Dexter Keezer, American economist and college administrator
- Dexter Kernich-Drew, Australian basketball player
- Dexter King, American civil rights activist
- Dexter Kozen, American computer scientist
- Dexter Lawrence, American football player
- Dexter Lumis, WWE wrestling superstar
- Dexter Manley, American football player
- Dexter McDougle, American football player
- Dexter Roberts, American country music singer
- Dexter Simmons, American fashion designer
- Dexter Tortoriello, American singer-songwriter and record producer
- Dexter Vines, American comic book artist and inker
- Dexter Williams, American football player
- Dexter Williams II, American football player
Fictional characters
- Dexter, also known as Dex-Starr, a member of the Red Lantern Corps in the DC Universe
- Dexter, the title character from Dexter's Laboratory
- Dexter, a monkey from the Night at the Museum film series, played by Crystal the Monkey
- Dexter, young version of the protagonist in the Space Ace video game
- Dexter "Dex" Barrington, a character in The Country Bears
- Ramone "Ray" Dexter, one half of the gunshark duo Sinister Dexter in the British comics anthology 2000 AD
- Dexter "Dex" Dizznee, a character from the novel series Keeper of the Lost Cities
- Dexter DeShawn, a character from the video game Cyberpunk 2077
- Dexter Douglas, the alter ego of the title character in Freakazoid!
- Dexter Hartman, a character from EastEnders
- Dexter Jettster, proprietor of Dex's Diner and criminal informant in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones
- Dexter Morgan, a fictional serial killer/vigilante and blood spatter analyst created by writer Jeff Lindsay
- Dexter Mulholland, a character from EastEnders
- Dexter Walker, a character in the Australian soap opera Home and Away
- Charles Dexter Ward, the protagonist of the cosmic horror novel The Case of Charles Dexter Ward by H. P. Lovecraft
- Dexter Vex, a character from the Skulduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy