How common is the surname Rice?

149,500 people in the United States had the surname Rice in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 2,065 Americans. It ranked 184th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Rice?

Condoleezza Rice, American diplomat and political scientist (born 1954), followed by Anne Rice.

Where is the surname Rice most common?

Wikidata records people named Rice in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and 1 other country.

How do you pronounce Rice?

Rice is /ɹaɪs/, one syllable.

Is the surname Rice getting more or less common?

More common. 146,440 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 149,500 in 2010, up 2.1%.

The surname Rice

A Welsh occupational surname, carried by 149,500 people in the United States.

Pronounced /ɹaɪs/ 1 syllable Soundex R200

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Rice is more common than 99.9% of them.

Origin

Welsh origin

* As a Welsh surname, borrowed from Welsh Rhys, an Anglicization. Compare Reese, Freese, Price, and Preece. * As an English surname, from Old English hris (“brushwood, shrubbery”). * Also as an English surname, from a nickname through Middle English and Anglo-Norman from French ris (“smile, laughter”). * Also as an occupational English surname, from the noun rice. * As as German surname, Americanized from Reis (“shoot, twig”), related to the Old English word above. Compare Ries.

Rice is an occupational surname: named after the work an ancestor did.

One of 60 Welsh surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 149,500 people named Rice in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 2,065 Americans. That is up 2.1% since 2000, when the Census counted 146,440.

#184

rank among US surnames

149,500

people in 2010

per 100,000 Americans

+2.1%

change since 2000 (was #169)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#175	Robertson	153,666	2,009
#176	Boyd	153,469	2,012
#177	Rose	153,397	2,013
#178	Stone	153,329	2,014
#179	Salazar	152,703	2,022
#180	Fox	152,334	2,027
#181	Warren	152,147	2,029

Who is named Rice

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

78% of people named Rice identified as white (not Hispanic), 17% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.3% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 78%
Black (not Hispanic) 17%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.3%
Two or more races 2.0%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.7%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.6%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Rices

46 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Condoleezza Rice
American diplomat and political scientist (born 1954)
Anne Rice
American author (1941–2021)
Charles M. Rice
American virologist, born 1952
Susan Rice
American diplomat and policy advisor (born 1964)
Stephanie Rice
Australian swimmer, born 1988
Jerry Rice
American football player (born 1962)
Angourie Rice
Australian actress, born 2001
Glen Rice
American basketball player (born 1967)
Elmer Rice
American playwright (1892–1967)
Marjorie Rice
American amateur mathematician (*1923 – †2017)
Tony Rice
American bluegrass musician (1951–2020)
Horace Rice
Australian tennis player (1872–1950)

Notable Rices come mostly from the United States (41), Australia (3) and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Rise
Wrice

Surnames that sound like Rice

Rice has the Soundex code R200, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code R200.

Other Welsh surnames

All 60 Welsh surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Rice come from?: * As a Welsh surname, borrowed from Welsh Rhys, an Anglicization. Compare Reese, Freese, Price, and Preece. * As an English surname, from Old English hris (“brushwood, shrubbery”). * Also as an English surname, from a nickname through Middle English and Anglo-Norman from French ris (“smile,…
How common is the surname Rice?: 149,500 people in the United States had the surname Rice in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 2,065 Americans. It ranked 184th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Rice?: In the 2010 Census, 78% of people named Rice identified as white (not Hispanic), and 17% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Rice?: Condoleezza Rice, American diplomat and political scientist (born 1954), followed by Anne Rice.
Where is the surname Rice most common?: Wikidata records people named Rice in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and 1 other country.
How do you pronounce Rice?: Rice is /ɹaɪs/, one syllable.
What type of surname is Rice?: Rice is an occupational surname, named after the work an ancestor did.
Is the surname Rice getting more or less common?: More common. 146,440 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 149,500 in 2010, up 2.1%.
What are other spellings of Rice?: Rise and Wrice.