The nice Surname
nice Name Meaning and History
- English (Essex) and French: nickname from Middle English, Old French nice ‘foolish’, ‘simple’ (Latin nescius ‘ignorant’). In the 14th century the English word also acquired the sense ‘wanton’ and in the 15th century ‘coy’, ‘shy’, both of which meanings may be reflected in the surname. The sense ‘fastidious’, ‘precise’, ‘minute’ developed only in the 16th century, probably too late to have given rise to any surnames, and the present-day sense of general approbation is not clearly attested until the late 19th century.
- Americanized spelling of German Neis.
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
Learn the meaning and history of your first name
Share this page with friends and family
Search for nice records
More resources for your nice family history
Nice message board
Threads: 74 - Messages: 217
Start your FREE family tree. Who will you discover?
A family tree is the easiest way to start discovering your family history. To begin, just enter whatever you know and we'll use that to try and find more information for you.
Begin your family tree with your name:
The nice name in History
A unique volume of fascinating facts, statistics and commentary following the nice family name as far back in history as possible.
Member Connections
- Anonymously contact one of the Ancestry members researching the nice last name.
- Search for Ancestry members researching one of your specific ancestors.
- Create or update your own Ancestry member profile so that other members can anonymously contact you.
More Tools and Resources
- Search Ancestry.com for all of your nice ancestors.
- Create and publish your own family history book using Ancestry Press.
- Learn more about your family history using DNA Ancestry.
- Learn more about family history in the Ancestry Learning Center.
- Visit the Ancestry.com homepage.