Pearce
An English surname most often linked to the medieval given name Piers/Pierre, with some forms also influenced by place-names and later spelling shifts.
The #1,129 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 9,940 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Pearce is chiefly a surname from the medieval personal name Piers, the English form of Old French Pierre, ultimately from Latin Petrus, meaning “rock” or “stone.” In other words, it began as a name identifying someone as “son of” or “descended from” a man named Peter/Piers. Some 19th-century surname writers also noted that a few similar spellings may reflect local or descriptive forms, but the main origin is from the forename.
History
The name appears in medieval and post-medieval English records in several spellings, including Pears, Pearse, Pierce, and Piers. In older scholarship it is often grouped with many other surnames that developed from the widespread Christian name Peter and its vernacular forms. The spelling Pearce became established as one of the standard English forms, especially in southern England and later in North America and other English-speaking countries.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
19th-century surname books often treated Pearce and Pierce as near-equivalents, because both could stand for the same medieval name, Piers.
From the historical record
“q.v. PEARCE, V. Pierce, Piers. ^i^R^§f^}^'^'erc(e)y. PEARCH, V. Perch. PEARD is app. a contr. of Pearhead (Robert Perheved — Hund. iJoHi)— either a nick- name, or a local name from a Pear(-Tree) Head (-Land) [v. Pear'; and -|- O.E. he(ifod, head, high ground, upper part] ; but there may have been some confusion”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)