Wear
A surname most likely taken from a place by a weir or from the River Wear in northeastern England.
The #9,366 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 88,899 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is usually explained as either topographic or locational. One line of explanation connects it with Old English words for a weir or fishing dam, giving the sense of someone who lived by a weir. Another associates it with the River Wear in Durham, so the name could also mean someone from that river district.
History
Early surname forms include Wear, Weare, and related spellings. 19th-century surname writers linked it both to residence by a weir and to the River Wear, and the two explanations have sometimes been treated as closely related. The name is still found in England and, through later migration, in other English-speaking countries.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Bardsley noted that nearby place-names and surnames around the Wear often overlap, which is why the name has long been discussed as both a place-name and a topographic surname.
From the historical record
“WEAR WEARE Wearing 270 Weedon”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)