Weise
A German surname that most often began as a nickname for a wise or prudent person, and sometimes reflects the common German word *weise* meaning “wise.”
The #8,590 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 80,528 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname is generally connected with Middle High German and modern German *weise*, meaning “wise” or “prudent,” so it likely began as a descriptive nickname. In some cases it may also reflect older forms related to counsel or judgment, rather than a direct occupational sense. The historical material you provided treats it as the same word family as German *weise* and even notes it alongside German forms like *Wiss* and *Vize*.
History
Weise is an old German surname and remains fairly common in German-speaking areas and among descendants of German emigrants. 19th-century surname writers often grouped it with other names meaning “wise” or “prudent,” and later German onomastic works continued to treat it as a straightforward descriptive name. In English-language records it may appear with Anglicized spellings such as Wyse or Wise, though those can also have separate origins.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In older surname dictionaries, Weise is sometimes discussed together with a cluster of related spellings like Wise, Wiss, Vice, and Vyse, showing how one German word could be reshaped differently across languages and records.
From the historical record
“"Woir, for Y'ere. ; - ■ "Weise, for Y'lSE. Welbank. See Y'alba>-e:. "Welbore, for AYellebo. Landri aiid Stephen de Y'ellebo, Normandy”
— The Norman People and their existing descendants in the British dominions and the United States