# Dear (surname)

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

A surname.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 3,677 |
| US rank (2010) | 8,906 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 83,967 people |
| Change since 2000 | +2.1% (3,602 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

English surname, related to the adjective dear and noun deer (from Old English deor (“wild animal”), used in many senses).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Dear 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) | 67% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 24% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.8% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 3.2% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.5% |
| Two or more races | 2.3% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Dear in the United States.

## People named Dear

- Matthew Dear, American musician

## Similar surnames

Derr, Darr, Derry, Dare, Deer, Deere, Dery, Duer, Dar, Deery, Der, Dier.

## 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.