How common is the surname Shear?

3,356 people in the United States had the surname Shear in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 91,998 Americans. It ranked 9,669th of 162,253 surnames.

What ethnicity is the surname Shear?

In the 2010 Census, 93% of people named Shear identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.3% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

Who is the most famous person named Shear?

Emmett Shear, American businessperson, followed by Cornelius Lott Shear.

Where is the surname Shear most common?

Wikidata records people named Shear in the United States.

Is the surname Shear getting more or less common?

More common. 3,318 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 3,356 in 2010, up 1.1%.

The surname Shear

An English surname, carried by 3,356 people in the United States.

1 syllable Soundex S600

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Shear is more common than 94% of them.

Origin

English origin

From Middle English schyre (“pure, bright, fair”). Also a German surname, variant of Schier, itself a variant of Scheuer or from a cognate of the Middle English word.

One of 1,446 English surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 3,356 people named Shear in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 91,998 Americans. That is up 1.1% since 2000, when the Census counted 3,318.

#9,669

rank among US surnames

3,356

people in 2010

1.1

per 100,000 Americans

+1.1%

change since 2000 (was #9,059)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#9,664	Dinardo	3,359	91,916
#9,666	Kennelly	3,358	91,943
#9,667	Oliveri	3,357	91,971
#9,669	Shear	3,356	91,998
#9,672	Vanlandingham	3,355	92,025

Who is named Shear

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

93% of people named Shear identified as white (not Hispanic), 2.3% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 2.1% as Black (not Hispanic).

White (not Hispanic) 93%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.3%
Black (not Hispanic) 2.1%
Two or more races 1.4%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.8%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.3%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Shears

3 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Emmett Shear
American businessperson, born 1983
Cornelius Lott Shear
American botanist and mycologist (1865–1956)
Rhonda Shear
American actress, television personality, and comedian, born 1954

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Shear

Shear has the Soundex code S600, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code S600.

Other English surnames

All 1,446 English surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Shear come from?: From Middle English schyre (“pure, bright, fair”). Also a German surname, variant of Schier, itself a variant of Scheuer or from a cognate of the Middle English word.
How common is the surname Shear?: 3,356 people in the United States had the surname Shear in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 91,998 Americans. It ranked 9,669th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Shear?: In the 2010 Census, 93% of people named Shear identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.3% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
Who is the most famous person named Shear?: Emmett Shear, American businessperson, followed by Cornelius Lott Shear.
Where is the surname Shear most common?: Wikidata records people named Shear in the United States.
Is the surname Shear getting more or less common?: More common. 3,318 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 3,356 in 2010, up 1.1%.