DeVries
A Dutch and Frisian surname meaning “the Frisian” or “from Friesland.”
The #2,649 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 22,702 Americans shares it.
Etymology
DeVries comes from Dutch de Vries, literally “the Frisian” or “the person from Friesland.” It is built from the definite article de, “the,” plus Vries, a surname form meaning “Frisian,” referring to the people and region of Friesland in the northern Netherlands. In surname use, it functioned as an ethnic or regional label for someone identified as Frisian by origin or association.
History
The name is common in the Netherlands and among descendants of Dutch and Frisian emigrants, especially in North America. English-language surname books of the early 20th century recorded it as a straightforward Dutch ethnic surname. In American records it often appears with the capitalized internal V as DeVries, though De Vries and de Vries are also found.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The surname preserves the old ethnonym for Frisians, a people with a distinct language and identity in the northern Netherlands.
From the historical record
“[see Vere in Diet.] DEVRIES 1 (Dut.) The Frieslander [Dut. DEVRIESM^, the + Vries, Ffie^landpr, Frisian : see under Fraser in Diet.] DEWIT(T \ (Flem.) The White [Flem. de. DE WIT(t; the ; iwiV, white] DEWOLF l(Flem.) The Wolf [Flem. de, DE WOLF I' the + wolf]”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)