Nice
A surname most likely from a nickname for someone regarded as neat, fastidious, or “nice” in the old sense.
The #9,090 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 85,882 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is most plausibly from the common adjective nice, used in earlier English and French senses such as “dainty,” “fastidious,” “particular,” or “neat,” rather than only the modern sense of “pleasant.” Historical surname writers also connect similar forms with meanings like “squeamish” or “dainty,” which fits a nickname origin. In some cases, the name may also have been influenced by place-name or continental forms, but the nickname explanation is the safest general reading.
History
The surname is relatively uncommon in modern England and the United States. Historical surname books mostly treat it as part of a wider group of descriptive nicknames, though the evidence is not always direct because the form also overlaps with the adjective and with place-related uses. As a result, the surname’s history is a little muddy, and different families may not share a single origin.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Early surname scholars often treated “nice” as a descriptor meaning something closer to “dainty” or “fussy” than to the modern compliment.
From the historical record
“names in brackets after the name proper : — Toffy, Clogger, Wheel, Stem, Pluck, Diamond, Shrimp, Hutch, Cock, Sweet, Pantry, Few, Pen, Fash, Mike, Willox, Strodger, Daddy, Smiler, Nice, Jenny's, Manty, Fullsea, Music, Owd Ned, Margery, Buskin, Orchard, Sifi, and Muff. The Irish name-system is elaborate and somewhat…”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)