RICE
Rice is a family name of English, Gaelic and Irish provenance, principally associated with the British Isles. It is recorded in both England and Ireland and, owing to historical anglicisation, also appears in Wales under related orthographies.
The English derivation of the name is traced to the Old English noun rīs, denating “twigs” or “brushwood”. In this sense the surname functioned as a topographic identifier for a person dwelling near a thicket or a reed‑laden locality. In an Irish context the name is an anglicised form of the Gaelic patronymic Ó Maolchraoibhe, meaning “descendant of Maolchraobh”. The personal element maol translates as “bald” and craobh as “branch”, thereby conveying a lineage that is metaphorically rooted in a “bald branch”.
Early documentary evidence demonstrates the name’s antiquity. The personal form Hris appears in the Anglo‑Saxon Chronicles for Cambridgeshire in AD 1052, while the variant Rees is listed in the Domesday Book for Cheshire in 1086. Subsequent medieval records include John Rees in the 1288 Fine Court Rolls of Suffolk and Walter Rys in the 1327 Subsidy Rolls of Worcestershire. The earliest confirmed spelling of the family name in official rolls is William Res, recorded in the Pipe Rolls of Lincolnshire in 1203 during the reign of King John.
Numerous orthographic variants have survived, notably Rees, Reece, Rhys, Reese and Ryce. Among the most distinguished bearers is Edmund Ignatius Rice (1762‑1844), the founder of the Irish Christian Brothers in County Waterford. The family’s heraldic emblem is described as a silver shield charged with an erminois chevron cotised black between three ravens, a blazon that reflects the name’s longstanding association with both English and Celtic lineages.
Typical given names associated with the Rice surname
Male
- Andrew
- Anthony
- Christopher
- David
- James
- John
- Michael
- Paul
- Peter
- Stephen
Female
- Angela
- Catherine
- Elizabeth
- Emma
- Helen
- Jacqueline
- Linda
- Margaret
- Mary
- Nicola
- Patricia
- Sarah
- Susan
Similar and related surnames
Related and similar names are generated algorithmically based on the spelling, and may not necessarily share an etymology.
How to communicate the surname Rice in...
Braille
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Morse
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Semaphore
Did you know?
According to a survey carried out by Democracy Club, politicians and candidates with the surname Rice are most likely to say that their favourite biscuit is a Chocolate Hobnob.
There are approximately 18,078 people named Rice in the UK. That makes it the 487th most common surname in Britain. Around 278 in a million people in Britain are named Rice.
Origin: Celtic
Region of origin: British Isles
Country of origin: Ireland
Religion of origin: Christian
Language of origin: Gaelic
Famous people named Rice
- Declan Rice - Football player
- Condoleezza Rice - American Republican politician; U.S. Secretary of State; political scientist
- Tim Rice - Lyricist and author
- Anneka Rice - Broadcaster
- Pat Rice - Northern Irish football player and manager
- Ray Rice - American football player, running back
- Susan Rice - 24th United States National Security Advisor
- Johnathan Rice - American actor and musician
- Brian Rice - Scottish football player
- Joan Rice - Actress (1930 to 1997)
- Michael Rice - Singer
- Christopher Rice - American fiction writer
- Duncan Rice - Academic
- David Talbot Rice - Art historian (1903 to 1972)
- Rachel Rice - Reality show winner and actor
- David Rice - Cricketer (1914 to 1997)
- Susan Rice - Banker
- Tamara Talbot Rice - Russian-British art historian (1904 to 1993)
- Thomas Spring Rice, 2nd Baron Monteagle of Brandon - Baron (1849 to 1926)
- Elsie Garrett Rice - -born South African botanical artist (1869 to 1959)
Names and descriptions courtesy of Wikipedia, and may contain errors. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of every famous person with this name.