Bair
A surname often derived as a spelling variant of German Baer/Behr, originally meaning “bear.”
The #3,052 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 26,299 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Bair is usually treated as a spelling variant of German Baer or Behr, surnames built from the word for “bear.” In English-speaking countries, the spelling shifted under the influence of English pronunciation and orthography, so Bair, Baer, Bear, and Bare can overlap in family records. In some cases, however, Bair may also reflect independent English or Scottish surname spellings, so each family line should be checked individually.
History
The name appears in North American records especially among families of German origin, where variant spellings became fixed after immigration. Historical writers noted that Baer could yield forms such as Bear, Bare, and Bair in America. The surname is found in the United States at a modest scale and is most often encountered in regions with older German-American settlement.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century name scholars used Bair as a textbook example of how immigrant surnames changed spelling once they entered English records.
From the historical record
“commanded the regiment involved, has one of the commonest of German names, meaning a " clearer of land," related to Bair^, Wernigefo^, the Rutli, etc. So we find von Schmidt, von Kleinschmitt, von Muller, von Zimmermann (Carpenter), von Kettler (Tinker), von Bernhardi, von Kluck, von Moltke, the last name being a…”
— Surnames