Home › Baby Names Directory › Breece

Breece

♂ Boy

Pronounced BREES /ˈbris/High

Meaning: Surname variant in the Brice/Breese family — Brice being a Gaulish-Latin saint's name of debated meaning, sometimes glossed 'speckled'Low

In 30 seconds: A one-syllable name with a cult bibliography: Breece belongs to the Brice-Breese surname family — and to Breece D'J Pancake, the West Virginia writer whose single story collection became legend.

💕 Browse more names

Origin LowEnglish, Welsh

MeaningSurname variant in the Brice/Breese family — Brice being a Gaulish-Latin saint's name of debated meaning, sometimes glossed 'speckled'

U.S. rank (2025)#3524 ↘ Falling

2025 U.S. births32 boys (0.00% of U.S. boys)

Peak year2024

Total births (all-time)≈ 115

Popularity in the U.S. · SSA data

U.S. births per year (Social Security Administration, 1880–present). Pink marker = peak year.

SSA data updated May 2026. How we source & verify this data.

History & Origin

Breece is a spelling within the Brice/Breese surname constellation — Brice descending from St. Bricius, Martin of Tours' difficult successor, his Gaulish name sometimes glossed 'speckled'; Welsh ap-Rhys ('son of Rhys') feeds the Breese line. The given name's fame rests on Breece D'J Pancake (1952–1979), whose twelve stories of Appalachian West Virginia carry outsized literary weight.

As a first name it is vanishingly rare — a breeze-sounding name with coal-seam depths for readers who know.

Did you know? Breece D'J Pancake's odd middle initials were a typesetter's error he kept — and his posthumous stories made him American fiction's great might-have-been.

Overall data confidence 60%

Dictionary of American Family Names — Breese/Brice — surname origins, debated

Variations

BriceBreeseBryce

Nicknames

—

Famous Bearers

★Breece D'J Pancake (1952–1979)
American short-story writer whose posthumous collection became an Appalachian classic.

If you like Breece…

Bryce— the popular form of the same saint's name

Reece— the Welsh Rhys-line cousin in sound

Brooks— a fellow one-syllable surname pick

Royce— another crisp -ce surname name

Explore names like Breece

By themesurname-name rare literary

By meaningSnow / Winter

All themes →All meanings →All origins →

Frequently Asked

What does the name Breece mean?

Breece is a surname variant in the Brice/Breese family — Brice being a saint's name of debated meaning, sometimes glossed 'speckled'.

How do you pronounce Breece?

It's said BREES /ˈbris/ — a single syllable.

Is Breece a boy or girl name?

Breece is a boy's name.

How popular is Breece?

Breece is a vanishingly rare name in the U.S.