# Hamer (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/hamer/  
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 | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 6,783 |
| US rank (2010) | 5,158 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 45,518 people |
| Change since 2000 | +3.9% (6,526 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈheɪmər/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

* As an English surname, from the place in Lancashire, from Old English hamor (“cliff”), apparently a rare use instead of the sense for "hammer" (compare Old Norse hamarr (“stone, cliff”). * As an English surname of Norman origin, variant of Amer. * As a Dutch surname, from hamer (“hammer”). * As a German and Jewish surname, variant of the noun Hammer (“hammer”), with several Slavic derivatives.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Hamer 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) | 76% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 20% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 1.9% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.5% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.3% |
| Two or more races | 1.5% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Hamer in the United States, Brazil and Belgium.

## People named Hamer

- Fannie Lou Hamer, American civil rights activist (1917–1977)
- Frank Hamer, (1884-1955) American lawman
- Gustavo Hamer, association football player
- Jean Jérôme Hamer, Belgian Roman Catholic cardinal (1916-1996)
- Rusty Hamer, actor (1947-1990)
- Dean Hamer, American geneticist
- Steve Hamer, American basketball player (born 1973)

## Similar surnames

Hammer, Homer, Hummer, Hamre, Haymore, Hamar, Hanner, Hamner, Haner, Hayner, Henry, Hiner.

## 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.