Fries Family History

German, Dutch, Jewish (from the Netherlands), Danish, and Swedish: ethnic name for someone from Friesland province in the Netherlands and a region in northwestern Germany, in the Middle Ages part of the larger northwest region Fresia. This form of the surname is rare in the Netherlands but very common in Germany. Compare De Fries and De Vries.

German, Dutch, Danish, and Swedish: from the personal name Friso, which refers to the ethnic name (see 1 above). South German: occupational name for a builder of dams and dikes.

The word was used in this sense in various parts of Germany and Switzerland during the Middle Ages, and is perhaps a transferred use of the ethnic term, dike building being a characteristic occupation of Frieslanders.