# Sayer (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/sayer/  
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 common in Sussex.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | occupational, named after the work an ancestor did |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 3,395 |
| US rank (2010) | 9,573 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 90,941 people |
| Change since 2000 | +28% (2,649 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | Sare, Sear |

## Etymology

Of multiple origins, including an occupational surname for a sawyer, or an assayer of metals, or a seller of serge cloth ( Middle English say), or a sewer.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Sayer 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) | 91% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 1.1% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 1.8% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 2.6% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.8% |
| Two or more races | 2.1% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Sayer in the United Kingdom.

## People named Sayer

- Malcolm Sayer, British automobile and aerospace engineer

## Similar surnames

Sawyer, Sauer, Sayre, Saar, Sierra, Soria, Shore, Sherry, Serra, Shirey, Scheer, Schauer.

## 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.