Boyce
Usually a surname from French bois, meaning “wood,” though in Scotland it was also used as a spelling of Boece.
The #1,337 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 11,706 Americans shares it.
Etymology
In the English and French surname tradition, Boyce is often linked to Old French bois, “wood,” suggesting an original topographic or locational sense such as someone who lived by a wood. The form also appears in Scotland as a spelling of Boece, the surname of the historian Hector Boece, so Scottish examples may reflect that separate history rather than the French word. Older writers sometimes treated the two possibilities together, so the name can be etymologically mixed depending on the family line.
History
The name appears in medieval and later records in England and Scotland in several spellings, and the same written form could belong to different origins in different places. In Scotland especially, Boyce was used for Boece, the surname of the historian Hector Boece. In English usage, it often sits beside other surnames formed from French words for woodland, and some dictionaries grouped it with those.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One of the best-known Scottish bearers is the humanist historian Hector Boece, whose surname was also spelled Boyce.
From the historical record
“BOYALL. A corruption of Boyle ? BOYCE. The name of the Scottish his- torian Boethius, spelt Boece and Boyce, ma}' be derived from the Fr. hois — wood. BOYCOTT. An estate in co. Salop, still possessed by the family. BOYD. Gael, boidh. Fair or yellow- haired. A nephew of Walter, first liigli- steward of Scotland…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom