The surname Dwyer
An Irish patronymic surname, carried by 27,240 people in the United States.
2 syllables Soundex D600
Origin
Irish origin
Reduced Anglicized form of Irish Ó Duibhidhir (“descendant of Duibhuidhir”), a personal name composed of the elements dubh (“black, dark”) + odhar (“sallow, tawny”).
Dwyer is a patronymic surname: formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.
One of 880 Irish surnames on this site.
Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How common it is
2010 US Census
There were 27,240 people named Dwyer in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 11,334 Americans. That is up 1.8% since 2000, when the Census counted 26,759.
Who is named Dwyer
Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census
92% of people named Dwyer identified as white (not Hispanic), 3.4% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.3% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
- White (not Hispanic) 92%
- Black (not Hispanic) 3.4%
- Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.3%
- Two or more races 1.3%
- Asian and Pacific Islander 0.8%
- American Indian and Alaska Native 0.2%
Famous Dwyers
10 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first
- R. Budd DwyerAmerican politician (1939–1987)
- Jamie DwyerAustralian field hockey player, born 1979
- Conor DwyerAmerican swimmer, Olympic gold medalist, world champion, born 1989
- Patrick DwyerAustralian sprinter, born 1977
- Hilary DwyerBritish actress (1945-2020)
- Jim DwyerAmerican journalist (1957-2020)
- Ruth DwyerAmerican actress (1898-1978)
- Patrick DwyerAmerican ice hockey player, born 1983
- Florence P. DwyerAmerican politician (1902-1976)
- Catherine Winifred DwyerAustralian suffragist, 1861–1949
Notable Dwyers come mostly from the United States (6), Australia (3) and the United Kingdom (1).
Spellings and sound-alikes
Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling
Dwyer has the Soundex code D600, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code D600.
Other Irish surnames
Questions
- Where does the surname Dwyer come from?
- Reduced Anglicized form of Irish Ó Duibhidhir (“descendant of Duibhuidhir”), a personal name composed of the elements dubh (“black, dark”) + odhar (“sallow, tawny”).
- How common is the surname Dwyer?
- 27,240 people in the United States had the surname Dwyer in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 11,334 Americans. It ranked 1,291st of 162,253 surnames.
- What ethnicity is the surname Dwyer?
- In the 2010 Census, 92% of people named Dwyer identified as white (not Hispanic), and 3.4% as Black (not Hispanic).
- Who is the most famous person named Dwyer?
- R. Budd Dwyer, American politician (1939–1987), followed by Jamie Dwyer.
- Where is the surname Dwyer most common?
- Wikidata records people named Dwyer in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom.
- What type of surname is Dwyer?
- Dwyer is a patronymic surname, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.
- Is the surname Dwyer getting more or less common?
- More common. 26,759 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 27,240 in 2010, up 1.8%.