Mize
A surname with several possible origins, often treated as an Anglicized form of continental names or a regional spelling of an older nickname or place-based surname.
The #3,008 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 25,928 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Mize is not a single clear-cut surname origin. In English-speaking records it is often treated as an Anglicized spelling of a shorter continental name, especially one pronounced like "Meez" or "Mees," or as a variant of older surnames shaped by local speech and spelling. In some cases it may also reflect a reduced or altered form of a nickname or place-based name whose original form has been lost or obscured.
History
The surname is most familiar in the United States, where it appears in several unrelated family lines rather than from one well-defined ancestral source. Its present form likely reflects the common American tendency to simplify, phoneticize, or reshape immigrant surnames in local records. Because the name is relatively uncommon and widely variable in spelling, a single historical origin cannot be assigned with confidence.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Because Mize can reflect more than one origin, two people with the same surname may not be genealogically related at all.