How common is the surname Shearer?

17,707 people in the United States had the surname Shearer in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 17,436 Americans. It ranked 2,033rd of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Shearer?

Harry Shearer, American actor (born 1943), followed by Moira Shearer.

Where is the surname Shearer most common?

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

Is the surname Shearer getting more or less common?

More common. 17,545 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 17,707 in 2010, up 0.9%.

The surname Shearer

An occupational surname, carried by 17,707 people in the United States.

2 syllables Soundex S660

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Shearer is more common than 98.7% of them.

Origin

An English surname originating as an occupation for a shearer.

Shearer is an occupational surname: named after the work an ancestor did.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 17,707 people named Shearer in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 17,436 Americans. That is up 0.9% since 2000, when the Census counted 17,545.

#2,033

rank among US surnames

17,707

people in 2010

6.0

per 100,000 Americans

+0.9%

change since 2000 (was #1,878)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#2,024	Lorenzo	17,825	17,321
#2,025	Longoria	17,818	17,328
#2,026	Pelletier	17,808	17,337
#2,027	Sneed	17,804	17,341
#2,028	Skaggs	17,778	17,367
#2,029	Alcala	17,758	17,386
#2,030	Munson	17,745	17,399

Who is named Shearer

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

92% of people named Shearer identified as white (not Hispanic), 3.5% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.2% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 92%
Black (not Hispanic) 3.5%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.2%
Two or more races 1.5%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.7%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.4%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Shearers

3 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Harry Shearer
American actor (born 1943)
Moira Shearer
British ballerina and actress (1926–2006)
Al Shearer
American actor, born 1977

Notable Shearers come mostly from the United States (2) and the United Kingdom (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Shira

Surnames that sound like Shearer

Shearer has the Soundex code S660, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code S660.

Questions

How common is the surname Shearer?: 17,707 people in the United States had the surname Shearer in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 17,436 Americans. It ranked 2,033rd of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Shearer?: In the 2010 Census, 92% of people named Shearer identified as white (not Hispanic), and 3.5% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Shearer?: Harry Shearer, American actor (born 1943), followed by Moira Shearer.
Where is the surname Shearer most common?: Wikidata records people named Shearer in the United States and the United Kingdom.
What type of surname is Shearer?: Shearer is an occupational surname, named after the work an ancestor did.
Is the surname Shearer getting more or less common?: More common. 17,545 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 17,707 in 2010, up 0.9%.
What are other spellings of Shearer?: Shira.