Family name origins & meanings
- German, Dutch, and Jewish (Ashkenazic) : nickname for a laudable or celebrated person, from Middle High German prīs, Dutch prijs, German Preis ‘praise’, ‘fame’, ‘worth’.
- Southern German and Jewish (Ashkenazic) : regional name for someone from Prussia, from a southern German variant of Preuss or from Yiddish prays ‘Prussia’.