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One of our family names is Rice. As we are entirely Welsh, with no English or Irish connections, we understand it to be an anglicisation of Rhys. I have come across a surname which sounds exactly like it in Holland, namely: Rijs. I also notice that the Arabic/Swahil word for president is rais, again with the same pronounciation. I think that it is such a common combination of letters that it would be quite feasible for names coincidentally sounding exactly the same as Rice to spring up from all over the world!

This should do for the moment.
(Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4)

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DOERR:
http://www.ancestry.com/search/SurnamePage.aspx?sourcecode=13304&html=b&fn=&ln=doerr&submit.x=0&submit.y=0

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HITCHCOCK:
http://www.ancestry.com/search/SurnamePage.aspx?sourcecode=13304&html=b&fn=&ln=hitchcock&submit.x=0&submit.y=0

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FARLEY:
http://www.ancestry.com/search/SurnamePage.aspx?sourcecode=13304&html=b&fn=&ln=farley&submit.x=37&submit.y=13

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RICE:
http://www.ancestry.com/search/SurnamePage.aspx?ln=Reis&fn=&sourcecode=13304&html=b