Given name & surname
Rice
“having great enthusiasm for life”
Rice is a variant of Reece. One Welsh interpretation is “having great enthusiasm for life.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
Rice is a variant of Reece. One Welsh interpretation is “having great enthusiasm for life.”
Explained through its name family
Where it comes from
Rice is a variant of Reece. An origin associated with Reece is Welsh.
Explained through its name family
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1880. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Rice through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 287
- 287 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 1919
- 15 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 5 in 1972. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for boys was 15 in 1919. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 304 as a first name in 2020; 142,463 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Rice’s family of names
In English usage, Rice shares an earlier linguistic root with Rhys. Rice has a related form in Reece. In English usage, Rice has a related form in Rhys.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Rice has relatives in 4 languages.
6 related names in 4 languages. Point at a dot, or tab to the map and use the arrow keys.
Nicknames & forms 3
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 3
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 1
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Rice
- Rice GemmellAustralian tennis player1896–2000
- Rice W. MeansAmerican Politician and Ku Klux Klan member (1877-1949)
- Rice Alexander PierceAmerican politician (1848–1936)
- Rice GarlandAmerican politician1795–1861
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Appears in
Similar names
If you love Rice, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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“from the forest of deer”
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“from the renowned land”
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