Shearin
An English-language surname that likely began as a nickname or occupational name related to shearing or a shearing trade.
The #9,563 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 90,834 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Shearin is most likely an English surname built from the word "shear" or "shearer," referring to someone who sheared sheep or worked with shears. The ending -in may reflect a diminutive, patronymic, or dialect form, but the exact shaping of the surname is not certain. In practice, it is probably a variant spelling in the wider family of Shearer, Shears, and Shearman names.
History
The historical excerpts only show Shearin as a name found alongside related surnames such as Shearer, Shearman, and Shears, which supports a shared English-language naming background. The form appears in American records by the mid-19th century, but the excerpts do not give a deeper local origin story. Today it is a relatively uncommon surname in the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
19th-century surname indexes often grouped Shearin with Shearer and Shears, hinting that scribes and record-keepers may have treated them as closely related forms.
From the historical record
“BER, in St. Louis, 1859. Mr. Sheers made a deed (L. 64, f. 203) ; and we have also the names of Sheer- in, Shearin, Shears, Sherer, Dockham, Dockum. Perhaps Mr. Close belongs here, rather than among the fields. Mr. Closer was lost in the " Central Ame- rica " (1857) ; and Mr. O wings then paid his last debt. A Yale…”
— Suffolk Surnames (3rd ed.)