How common is the surname Lear?

7,649 people in the United States had the surname Lear in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 40,364 Americans. It ranked 4,638th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Lear?

Edward Lear, British artist, illustrator, author and poet (1812-1888), followed by Norman Lear.

Where is the surname Lear most common?

Wikidata records people named Lear in the United States and the United Kingdom.

How do you pronounce Lear?

Lear is /lɪəɹ/, one syllable.

Is the surname Lear getting more or less common?

Less common. 7,689 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 7,649 in 2010, down 0.5%.

The surname Lear

A surname, carried by 7,649 people in the United States.

Pronounced /lɪəɹ/ 1 syllable Soundex L600

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Lear is more common than 97.1% of them.

Origin

A surname.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 7,649 people named Lear in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 40,364 Americans. That is about the same as in 2000, when the Census counted 7,689.

#4,638

rank among US surnames

7,649

people in 2010

2.6

per 100,000 Americans

-0.5%

change since 2000 (was #4,266)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#4,629	Manson	7,663	40,290
#4,630	Flick	7,661	40,301
#4,631	Omar	7,660	40,306
#4,632	Janes	7,659	40,311
#4,633	Nakamura	7,658	40,317
#4,634	Moye	7,657	40,322
#4,635	Thomsen	7,654	40,338

Who is named Lear

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

89% of people named Lear identified as white (not Hispanic), 6.1% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.4% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 89%
Black (not Hispanic) 6.1%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.4%
Two or more races 1.7%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.8%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.3%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Lears

6 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Edward Lear
British artist, illustrator, author and poet (1812-1888)
Norman Lear
American television writer and producer (1922-2023)
Evelyn Lear
American operatic soprano (1926-2012)
Bailey Lear
American athlete, born 2001
Bill Lear
American businessman and inventor, 1902–1978
Hal Lear
American basketball player (1935–2016)

Notable Lears come mostly from the United States (5) and the United Kingdom (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Lear

Lear has the Soundex code L600, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code L600.

Questions

How common is the surname Lear?: 7,649 people in the United States had the surname Lear in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 40,364 Americans. It ranked 4,638th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Lear?: In the 2010 Census, 89% of people named Lear identified as white (not Hispanic), and 6.1% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Lear?: Edward Lear, British artist, illustrator, author and poet (1812-1888), followed by Norman Lear.
Where is the surname Lear most common?: Wikidata records people named Lear in the United States and the United Kingdom.
How do you pronounce Lear?: Lear is /lɪəɹ/, one syllable.
Is the surname Lear getting more or less common?: Less common. 7,689 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 7,649 in 2010, down 0.5%.