Blackshear
A surname likely formed from a place-name or landscape term with a dark or black element, though its exact origin is not securely established.
The #8,293 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 77,283 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Blackshear is most likely an English-language surname built from the elements black and shear or a similar place-name form, but its exact origin is not certain. In many surname histories, such names arise from a location, a field-name, or a descriptive reference to dark land, timber, or a blackened feature in the landscape. Because the form is uncommon and not well documented in the standard dictionaries, the safest reading is that it is a locational or topographic surname of uncertain derivation.
History
The name is found primarily in the United States, especially in the South, and is uncommon elsewhere. Like many rare American surnames, it may reflect an earlier local family line whose spelling became fixed after migration. The name is notable in Georgia, where Blackshear is also the name of a city and county seat, which may have reinforced recognition of the surname form.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Blackshear is also the name of a city in Georgia, which can make the surname look more place-linked than many English surnames.