Grice
A surname that likely began as a nickname for a pig or hog, with some later confusion from the personal name Gregory.
The #3,984 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 34,636 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Grice is usually traced to an old word for a pig or hog. Lower explicitly says it comes from O. French, where grice meant a pig, and Bardsley also treats it as part of a stock of animal-based surnames. Some later writers connect it secondarily with Gregory, but the pig-name explanation is the main historical derivation given in the sources.
History
The name appears in medieval and early modern records in Britain and later persists as a family name in England and Scotland. Writers such as Lower and Barber also note related forms and diminutives, which helped the surname survive in several spelling variants. In some cases, bearers may have adopted or inherited it through a nickname rather than a direct occupational meaning.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Lower notes that the related French form Legryle was associated with boars in heraldry, reflecting the name’s pig-related origin.
From the historical record
“son of Gregory, GRICE. O. Fr. A pig. See Purcell. GRIEF, See Grieve. GRIER. See Gregory. GRIERSON. The son of Gregor; de- scended from the clan Gregor. B.L.G. under Macadam. GRIEVE. A-Sax. gerefa, pra?ses, like the Germ. {iraf. In Scothind the manager”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom