Last name: RICE

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All you have to know about the last name RICE

Last name frequency

RICE : This last name is indexed 589,678 times on Geneanet!

Origin of last name

RICE : 1: Welsh: Anglicized pronunciation of one of the most common Welsh personal names Rhys from a form originally meaning ‘rash impetuous’ also spelled Rys and Re(e)s. See also Reese with which it is interchangeable as a result of different Anglicized forms of the Welsh vowel y and also compare Preece and Price. Initial R- in Welsh is voiceless and often spelled Rh- but in English R- is voiced as in the Anglicized surnames Rees and Rice. Welsh y is a short back vowel /ɪ/. In the medieval period the English approximation of this vowel was either /i/ or /e/ lengthened to /i:/ and /e:/. Subsequent sound changes in English produced the alternative pronunciations represented in Rees Preece and Rice Price. The name has also been established in Ireland from an early date.2: English: either a topographic name for someone who lived in or near a thicket (Middle English ris rice ris from Old English hrīs Old Norse hrís) or a habitational name for someone who came from a place called with this word such as Rise (East Yorkshire).3: English: perhaps a nickname from Middle English Rys(e) and Re(e)s which when without a preposition could derive from one or other of several Old French and Middle English words including Anglo-Norman French ris ‘laughter smile’ Middle English ris res ‘stem stalk’ in origin the same word as in 2 above and Middle English ris rise rice res Old French ris riz ‘rice’ perhaps a nickname for a rice dealer or a cook.4: Americanized form of German Reis.

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