# Nice (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/nice/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname. (pronounced /ni:s/ or /naɪs/)

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | French |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 3,595 |
| US rank (2010) | 9,090 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 85,882 people |
| Change since 2000 | +7.0% (3,361 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /nis/, 1 syllable |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

Borrowed from French Nice, from Latin Nīcaea, from Ancient Greek Νῑ́καια (Nī́kaia), from νῑ́κη (nī́kē, “victory”) + -ῐᾰ (-ĭă, “-ia”, suffix forming place names). It was named for a 4th-century-BCE victory of its colonizing Phocaean Greeks over local Ligurians, probably the Vediantii. Doublet of Iznik and Nicaea.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Nice in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 94% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 1.4% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.5% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.6% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.2% |
| Two or more races | 1.6% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Nice in the United States and the United Kingdom.

## People named Nice

- Margaret Morse Nice, American ornithologist (1883–1974)
- Geoffrey Nice, British barrister and judge

## Similar surnames

Nace, Nies, Nicks, Nick, Nash, Ngo, Ng, Nix, Nowak, Nagy, Ness, Noyes.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.