Pease Family History

English: from Middle English pese pise (Old English peose pise) ‘pea’. The word was commonly used to denote something small or of little worth as in the phrase not worth a pese. It may have been used to nickname someone who habitually used the term or who was thought to merit it.

It might alternatively have been a name for a pea-seller. Compare Bean. Americanized form of French Pié (see Pie) with the addition of excrescent -s a common feature of Americanized surnames.