# Bayer (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/bayer/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname from German [in turn originating as an ethnonym].

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | German |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 10,544 |
| US rank (2010) | 3,389 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 29,282 people |
| Change since 2000 | +14% (9,246 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

Borrowed from German Bayer. The surname is converged from both Bavaria and Middle High German beieren (“to ring a bell”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Bayer in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 95% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 0.7% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.8% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.7% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.1% |
| Two or more races | 0.9% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Bayer in the United States, Austria, Austria–Hungary and Argentina.

## People named Bayer

- Herbert Bayer, Austrian architect, photographer, graphic and typographer (1900-1985)
- Vanessa Bayer, American actress and comedian
- Carole Bayer Sager, American lyricist, singer and songwriter
- Samuel Bayer, American film editor and cinematographer
- Konrad Bayer, Austrian writer and poet (1932–1964)
- Ernest Bayer, American rower (1904–1997)
- Carl Josef Bayer, Austrian chemist (1847–1904)
- Josef Bayer, Austrian composer (1852-1913)
- Bryce Bayer, American physicist and inventor of the Bayer filter
- Osvaldo Bayer, Argentine journalist, historian and writer (1927-2018)
- Tobias Bayer, Austrian racing cyclist
- Valentin Bayer, Austrian swimmer

## Similar surnames

Boyer, Beyer, Bowyer, Byer, Bauer, Barr, Baer, Bair, Bahr, Bare, Baier, Baur.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.