 According to the Minnesota Historical Society, Rice Creek was named for Henry Mower Rice, one of the first pair of U.S.Senators sent to represent Minnesota upon its statehood, who acquired extensive lands near the lower course of the creek in 1849, though Edmund Rice describes Rice Brook in St. Paul as the "Rice Creek" named after his brother Henry Mower Rice.Rice Creek was known in Dakota as "Psin ta wak pa dan" or "Psiŋta wakpadaŋ", meaning "Wild Rice Rivulet".