Rees
A Welsh surname from the personal name Rhys, meaning “ardor” or “enthusiasm.”
The #2,828 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 24,208 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Rees is the Anglicized form of the Welsh personal name Rhys. The name is usually taken to come from a Welsh word meaning “ardor,” “zeal,” or “enthusiasm,” and the surname developed from the given name rather than from a place or occupation. Older forms and related surnames include Rice, Reece, Price/Pryce, and Preece, many of them reflecting Welsh patronymic spellings such as Ap-Rhys (“son of Rhys”).
History
Historical surname writers repeatedly describe Rees as a Welsh family name derived from Rhys, with early modern spellings varying widely. It is especially associated with Wales and Welsh-descended families in the south, and older genealogical sources mention established lines in Carmarthenshire. In English records, Rees often appears alongside related forms like Reece and Rice, which were used interchangeably in some periods.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same Welsh name could be written several different ways in older records, so one person might appear as Rice in one document and Rees or Reece in another.
From the historical record
“why not from ' Auld Reekie ' itself 1 REES. A Welsh personal name, an- ciently Rhys, whence the modifications and derivatives, Rice, Price or Pryce, (Ap-Rhys) Apreece, Reece, Preece, &c. Sir Elidir Dhu, who flourished temp. Richard I. (a descendant, according to the Welsh genealogies, of Coel Codevog, King of…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom