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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!