Dearing
A surname most likely tied to the older name Dering, with possible roots in an Old English personal name or a nickname connected to a deer.
The #5,942 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 53,287 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The historical sources mainly point Dearing back to Dering, rather than treating it as a fully separate creation. One likely line of development is from an Old English or early Germanic personal name such as Deoring, based on the element dear/deor meaning "deer" or, more broadly in older names, "brave" or "dear." Because the forms overlap with several similar surnames, the exact origin is not fully secure.
History
The surname appears in English records at least by the late medieval and early modern periods, and the cited dictionaries place it especially in eastern and northern English usage. Nineteenth-century surname writers often grouped Dearing with Dering and related names such as Dearling and Dearlove, which suggests that spelling variation was common. The name also shows up in later English and American records, reflecting ordinary surname spread through migration and clerical variation.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Early surname collectors treated Dearing as close enough to Dering that they often cross-referenced the two rather than giving a separate full explanation.
From the historical record
“genitor of the family. DEARING. See Dering. DEARLING. See Darling. DEARLOVE. 1. Possibly local- from deer, the animal, and low, a liill. 2. The old Germanic personal name Deorlaf. DEARMAN. 1. An A. Sax. personal name. In Domesday Dereman and Der- man. 2. A keeper of deer.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom