Bryce
Usually a Scottish form of Ap Rhys—literally “son of Rhys”—though some writers also linked it to Brice/Brise and other older spellings.
The #7,001 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 64,524 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The best-known derivation treats Bryce as a reduced form of Welsh Ap Rhys, meaning “son of Rhys.” In that line, the surname ultimately goes back to the Welsh personal name Rhys, “ardor” or “enthusiasm.” Some older surname writers also connected Bryce with Brice or Brise, and a few noted spellings that blurred together over time, so the history of the name is not perfectly uniform.
History
In Scottish and English records, Bryce appears both as a surname and as a spelling that could overlap with related forms such as Brice. Nineteenth-century writers especially associated it with Gaelic or Welsh patronymic forms, with Ap Rhys being the most common explanation. The name is well established in Scotland, where it has long been borne by notable figures in clerical, scholarly, and public life.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A few older surname manuals even treated Bryce as a near-equivalent of Brice, showing how fluid medieval and early-modern spellings could be.
From the historical record
“BRYN. (Welsh.) A mountain ; a mountaineer* BRYCE. (Welsh.) A contraction of Ap Rhys, the son of Rhys or Rhees. (See Rhees.) BRYNE. Local. A river in Donegal, Ireland; in Welsh, a hill. Bryne, Saxon, a burning. BUCHAN. Local A district of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The derivation of the name is uncertain. It may be…”
— An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names