# Dyer (surname)

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

An English surname originating as an occupation for a dyer of cloth.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | occupational, named after the work an ancestor did |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 47,170 |
| US rank (2010) | 742 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 6,545 people |
| Change since 2000 | +1.3% (46,574 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

* As an English surname, from dyer (“one who dyes”). Compare Dexter. * As an Irish surname, variant of Dwyer.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Dyer 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) | 83% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 11% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.5% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.5% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.7% |
| Two or more races | 1.8% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Dyer in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom.

## People named Dyer

- Natalia Dyer, American actress (born 1997)
- Wayne Dyer, American writer (1940-2015)
- Hector Dyer, athletics competitor (1910–1990)
- William Turner Thiselton-Dyer, British botanist (1843-1928)
- Chris Dyer, Australian racing engineer
- Greg Dyer, Australian cricketer
- William Dyer, American actor of the silent era (1881-1933)
- Eliphalet Dyer, American judge and politician

## Similar surnames

Dwyer, Dyar, Derr, Dear, Deer, Drye, Duryea, Dery, Duer, Der, Dier, Drew.

## 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.