This surname is derived from a geographical locality. (1) 'of Rye,' a town in Sussex; (a) 'de la Rie.' Mr. Lower says, 'la Rie,' meaning a bank, is a very common name of localities in Normandy. There can be little doubt that this is one, if not the chief, parent of the surname.

Hubert de Rie, castellan of Norwich Castle, c. 1100: History of Norfolk.

Philip de Rye, Lincolnshire, Henry III-Edward I: Testa de Nevill, sive Liber Feodorum, temp. Henry III-Edward I.

Robert de Rye, Lincolnshire, ibid.

John de Rye, Lincolnshire, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

John de la Rye, Kent ibid.

1791. Married — George Rye and Susanna Owen: St. George, Hanover Square.

1 belonging to Ry (Seine-Inférieure, etc.) = the Bank [Old French ryge, a bank] This name occurs in the (supp.) copies of the Roll of Battle Abbey-Ry in Leland’s copy, Rie in Holinshed’s copy. Mr. Walter Rye, F.S.A., says that “Hubert de Rye came over with the Conqueror, and his sons settled in Norfolk, Nottingham, Derby, and Essex.” He adds that a Huguenot family of the name settled in Norwich in the 16th cent. Blomefield (‘Hist. Norf.’) mentions Hubert de Rie as being governor of Norwich Castle c. 1100.

2 belonging to Rye (Suss.), M. French La Rie [orig. uncert.: cp. Ree] A ‘John de la Rye’ of the Kentish Hundred-Rolls prob. owed his name to the Sussex port.

A town in Sussex. La Rie, meaning a bank, is a very common name of localities in Normandy.

(French.) Local. From Rive, a coast, a shore, a bank, border.

A baronial family, from Rie, near Bayeux. Geoffry de Rie was living c. 980. His son Odo Fitz-Geoffry gave half the church of Rie to Fescamp Abbey, which was confirmed 1027 by Richard II. of Normandy (Neustria Pia, 218). In 1047 Hubert de Rie, after the battle of Val des Dunes, saved the life of Duke William, and sent his three sons to guard him to Falaise (Roman de Rou, Ed. Pluquet, ii. 23). Hubert was sent ambassador to Edward the Confessor, and after the Conquest, with his sons, was sent into Normandy to maintain the Duchy in quiet. Ralph de Rie, his elder son, was Castellan of Nottingham, Robert the second Castellan of Norwich, whose son Hubert de Rie held in Norfolk a barony of 40 knights’ fees 1165 (Lib. Niger). The family long continued to be of great rank and power in various parts of England. In Normandy we have Robert, Richard de Ria, Rie, or Rii, and the Ville of Rie 1180-95 (Magni Rotuli Scaccarii Normanniae).

A location name in Sussex. Orfrom the Danish, Rye; a personal name.

Rye: 1. (Anglo-Saxon, hrycg), a ridge or bank of sand and pebbles. 2. (Anglo-Saxon rith), a mountain stream. Shottery, Leather- head, is A.S. Chilla-rith, the stream from the source.

Rye: from a place of that name north of Bayeux. Herbert de Rie in 1047 saved the life of William, the future Conquerer of England, when flying from the conspirators of the Cotentin. He died before 1066, but his sons are entered in Domesday. The name remains.