Freer
A surname usually explained as referring to a friar or religious brother, though some forms may be linked to French or continental names.
The #8,917 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 84,104 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Freer is commonly treated as a spelling of Frere, from Middle English and Old French frere, meaning “friar” or “brother.” In that sense it was likely a name for someone connected with a religious order, or possibly a nickname for a pious or clerically associated person. Some 19th-century surname writers also connected related forms with French and continental names, but the friar explanation is the standard one.
History
The surname is found in medieval and later English records in several spelling forms, including Frere, Frear, and Freer. It is especially associated with England, where such occupational or descriptive surnames often became fixed in the late Middle Ages. In some cases, later bearers may also reflect independent spelling variation from similar continental names.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Bardsley explicitly glossed Freer as “the friar,” showing how closely the surname was linked to the word for a religious brother in older English usage.
From the historical record
“ill* It Ridrnmia, ii. loo. i«03.HarTled-WilliamFairtnnViand France! Freer : Sl Geo. Han. So. iU ItS. London, a. a, »• N™ v™!. . .. «■ HDB.<«LMoni iland), a, o.”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances