Brice
A surname that can come from the personal name Brice, ultimately tied to St. Brice, though in some cases it may also reflect Welsh patronymic forms like Price.
The #3,067 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 26,395 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is generally explained as coming from the personal name Brice, itself linked to St. Brice (Bricius), a bishop and confessor whose name was widely used in medieval Europe. In English records, Brice can therefore function as a name taken from a given name rather than a place or occupation. Some 19th-century sources also suggested overlap with Welsh patronymic forms such as Price or ap Rice, so not every family with the surname necessarily has the same origin.
History
The name appears in medieval English records and was later used in several regions of Britain. In Welsh-border areas, related spellings and surnames such as Breese and Breeze were sometimes treated as variants of Price, which complicates the family history. Lower also noted Normandy place-names connected with St. Brice, showing how the saint’s cult helped spread the personal name.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Lower noted that there were three places in Normandy named for St. Brice, which helped keep the personal name in use on both sides of the Channel.
From the historical record
“BRIAR. See Bryer. BRICE. A personal name. The feast of St. Brice, bishop and confessor, is on the ] iJth of Novemlier. There are tliree places in Normandy denominated from him. ^^BPiICK. A common .syllaTile in local surnames, signifying lu'idge, from A-Sax. hricf/, a bridge ; as Shubrick, Brickhill, Bricklande…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom