Lear
LEER
A Welsh legendary name associated with the sea and with King Lear.
Meaning
The excerpt from Yonge explicitly glosses Lear as “Kelt, sea,” which points to a Celtic/Welsh origin with a sea-related sense. In English the name is best known from the legendary King Lear and Shakespeare’s play, so its name-history is shaped as much by literature as by etymology.
Origin
WelshEnglishmasculine
Fun fact
Yonge’s 1884 list places Lear among Welsh mythic names, linking it to the King Lear tradition.
Confidence: sourced. Sources: based on general naming-pattern knowledge.