# Mayer (surname)

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

A surname from German.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | German |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 39,555 |
| US rank (2010) | 880 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 7,805 people |
| Change since 2000 | +1.1% (39,111 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

* As an English surname, variant of Mear, from the noun mere (both senses). * Also as an English surname, from Middle English mire, a borrowing from archaic French mire (“physician”). Compare Myer. * Also as an English name, from the noun mayor. Compare Mayor, Mair. * As a German and Dutch surname, variant of Meyer, Myers. * Also as a Dutch surname, variant of Maijer, from the noun maaier (“mower, reaper”). * As a French Canadian surname, variant of Maille, itself of Breton origin, from the adjective maget (“nourished”), from Proto-Celtic *maketi (“to raise”), from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂ḱ- (“long, to raise”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Mayer 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) | 93% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 1.3% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 3.0% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.9% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.4% |
| Two or more races | 1.3% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Mayer in the United States, Austria, Argentina, Luxembourg, Brazil and Australia.

## People named Mayer

- John Mayer, American musician (born 1977)
- Marissa Mayer, American business executive and engineer, former CEO of Yahoo!
- Timmy Mayer, American racing driver
- Christian Mayer, alpine skier
- Charles Mayer, boxer (1882–1972)
- Christopher Mayer, American actor (1954-2011)
- Teddy Mayer, American businessman
- Helmut Mayer, Austrian alpine skier
- Gerhard Mayer, Austrian athletics competitor (born 1980)
- Arno J. Mayer, American historian, academic and intellectual (1926–2023)
- Mikaela Mayer, American boxer
- José Mayer, Brazilian actor

and 20 more on Wikidata.

## Similar surnames

Meyer, Moyer, Myer, Mayor, Maher, Maier, Marr, Mauer, Mair, Mähr, Mary, Mayr.

## 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.