Find out how popular the last name Bryce is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Bryce.

Bryce, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Bryce surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Bryce in America

Bryce is the 7001st most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Bryce surname appeared 4,785 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 2 people would have the surname Bryce.

We can also compare 2010 data for Bryce to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Bryce

The surname Bryce is of Scottish origin and can be traced back to the 12th century. It is believed to be a territorial name derived from the lands of Brice or Bryce in Moray, Scotland. The name may have originated from the Gaelic word "bris," meaning "broken."

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Bryce is found in the Exchequer Rolls of Scotland from 1264, which mention a person named William de Bris. The name is also found in various other Scottish records from the 13th and 14th centuries, such as the Ragman Rolls of 1296, which contain the name John de Brys.

The surname Bryce is also associated with several notable figures throughout history. One of the earliest was Sir John Bryce, a Scottish knight who fought alongside Robert the Bruce during the Wars of Scottish Independence in the early 14th century.

In the 16th century, James Bryce (c. 1510-1592) was a Scottish scholar and philosopher who served as the Regent of the University of St. Andrews. He was a prominent figure in the Scottish Reformation and played a significant role in the development of Protestant theology in Scotland.

Another notable bearer of the name was James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce (1838-1922), a British academic, jurist, and politician. He served as the British Ambassador to the United States from 1907 to 1913 and was a strong advocate for international cooperation and peace.

In the field of literature, Colette Bryce (born 1970) is a Northern Irish poet and novelist who has won numerous awards for her work, including the Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize and the Cholmondeley Award.

The surname Bryce has also been associated with several place names in Scotland, such as Bryce's Farm in Aberdeenshire and Bryce's Hill in Moray. These place names likely originated from individuals bearing the surname Bryce who owned or lived in these areas.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Bryce

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Bryce.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Bryce was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Bryce has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Bryce was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Bryce, please contact us.

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