Bear
An English surname that may come from a nickname for a fierce or surly person, or occasionally from a place-name or other local source.
The #4,308 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 37,415 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Bear is usually explained as a nickname from the animal, applied to someone thought to be strong, fierce, or surly. Early surname writers also connected it with Middle English and Anglo-Norman forms such as le Bere, which fits the nickname pattern well. In some cases, the name may also have been influenced by local place-names or by translation of similar surnames in other languages, so not every Bear family has the same origin.
History
Lower recorded Bear as an English surname in the mid-19th century, and Bardsley later cited medieval-style nickname formation as the most likely explanation. The name is never especially common in England, which suggests several small, independent origins rather than one large family line. Because bear-based nicknames were used in medieval naming, the surname fits a broader pattern seen in other animal surnames such as Wolf, Fox, and Hare.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One early anecdote preserved by Lower mentions a Kentish gentleman named Savage Bear, a good example of how striking some English surname combinations could be.
From the historical record
“Barton-in-Fabis, or Barton-iu-the-Beans. BEAR. A gentleman in Kent, some years since, rejoiced in the chi-istian and sur-(or rather ?/« -christian and sur-?^)- names of Savage Bear. Eng. Surn. Although I do not recollect any other instance of this name in modern English, the nomenclature of many European countries…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom