Rice

An Irish surname of Antrim and Dublin. In the 2010 US census it was carried by 149,500 people, the 184th most common surname in the country.

Rice is the anglicised form of two distinct Irish names. Some you can hear in the English name; others look and sound nothing like it, and were simply swapped for it.

Ó Maolchraoibhe, descendant of Maolchraoibhe (chief of Craobh, a place-name). This family stood in Co. Antrim, Co. Armagh, Co. Down, and Co. Tyrone.

Rís, son of Rhys (a Welsh personal name). This family stood in Co. Limerick.

Where the name comes from

Rís is son of Rhys, a Welsh personal name. The Rices, who are of Welsh descent, settled here in the 14th or 15th century, especially at Limerick and Dingle, where they were wealthy merchants. Walter Ryce was mayor of Limerick in 1520, and the Rices of Dingle came much into prominence in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Ó Maolchraoibhe is a quite different name that ends up as Rice. That Oriel family were originally located westward of the Upper Bann, then settled in Clannaboy as followers of the O'Neills; at the beginning of the 17th century they occupied the west side of Knockbreda near Belfast, though the name was already scattered through Tyrone, Armagh and Antrim. It is still common throughout East Ulster, and Mulgrew and Mulgrave are what it looks like undisguised.

The Giant's Causeway at twilight with wet hexagonal basalt columns stretching to the sea and long exposure blurred waves
The Giant's Causeway, Co. Antrim

The Rice counties, photographed

Antrim

The Antrim coast road runs about 25 miles between the cliffs and the sea, with nine glens coming down to it. The rock is basalt, the same flow that formed the Giant's Causeway. Scotland is 12 miles off at the narrowest point and visible on a clear day.

The iconic Dark Hedges beech tree tunnel near Armoy in County Antrim with intertwined branches forming a brooding canopyThe Dark Hedges, Co. Antrim Co. Antrim Long exposure of Pan's Rock with its footbridge at dawn on the Antrim Causeway Coast, silky water and blurred clouds, Rathlin Island on the horizonPan's Rock, Co. Antrim Co. Antrim Sunrise over Colliery Bay with Fair Head cliffs and mountains, Co. Antrim, fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxColliery Bay & Fair Head, Co. Antrim Co. Antrim Dunluce Castle on coastal cliffs with long exposure sea, Co. Antrim, fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxDunluce Castle, Co. Antrim Co. Antrim Black and white photograph of a rainstorm sweeping across the Skerries islands off the North Antrim coast near PortrushRainstorm, the Skerries, Co. Antrim Co. Antrim Sunset over Bengore Head with waves rolling over rocks, Co. Antrim, Ireland — fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxBengore Head, Co. Antrim Co. Antrim Sunset over the Skerries coast in County Antrim with warm light reflecting on wet sand and rock formationsThe Skerries, Co. Antrim Co. Antrim

Dublin

Dublin is a county as well as a city. The bay has Howth at the north end and Killiney Hill at the south, the Muglins are a pair of rocks off Dalkey, and the Dublin Mountains start about half an hour from the city centre.

Moonlight reflecting on the sea near the Muglins lighthouse off Dalkey Island, Dublin, with the Kish light on the horizonThe Muglins by Moonlight II Co. Dublin Long exposure panoramic view of the White Rock swimming platform at Killiney Bay, Dublin, floating in misty high-tide watersThe White Rock, Killiney Bay, Co. Dublin Co. Dublin Heron fishing at dawn on the Dublin coast — fine art wildlife photograph by Peter CoxHeron, Co. Dublin Co. Dublin

All Antrim prints · All Dublin prints

Notable bearers

Condoleezza Rice (born 1954), writer, politician, and university teacher.

Anne Rice (1941-2021), writer, screenwriter, and novelist.

Declan Rice (born 1999), association football player.

Charles M. Rice (born 1952), researcher, biochemist, and virologist.

Susan Rice (born 1964), politician, screenwriter, and diplomat.

About this page

The counties on this page are where the name was thickest on the ground in Ireland a century and a half ago, not a claim about any one family. Names moved around inside the country as much as they left it. The photographs are mine, made in the counties named.

More Irish surnames: Smith · Brown · Miller · Wilson · Anderson · Thomas · Taylor · Moore · Jackson · Martin · Lee · Thompson

How common the name was

In 1890, 99 births were registered under Rice in Ireland, most of them in Antrim, Armagh, Dublin, and Louth.

Ulster 48
Leinster 33
Munster 18
Connacht 0
Ireland 99

Armagh and Louth are the ones I haven't worked in.