Frequency: (826)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
1. Swiss German: topographic name for someone who lived near a thicket or underbrush, from an agent noun based on Middle High German rīs ‘branch’, ‘shrubbery’.
2. Possibly an Americanized spelling of German Reiser.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
