Locklear
An English-language surname of uncertain origin, most likely a local or descriptive name that developed in spelling variants in North America.
The #1,819 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 15,660 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Locklear is not a standard well-attested surname form in the major English surname dictionaries, so its exact origin is uncertain. It is often treated as a North American spelling variant of a much older English surname form, possibly tied to a place-name element like Old English 'loc' meaning an enclosure, or to a surname that shifted in pronunciation and spelling after migration. Because the evidence is thin, the safest reading is that it is an English-language surname that became fixed in a distinctive American spelling rather than a name with a single secure literal meaning.
History
The surname is especially associated with the southeastern United States, where it appears in community histories and family records rather than in early British documentary sources. Its present form likely stabilized in America through local spelling practices and dialect pronunciation. Because the name is comparatively rare and inconsistently recorded in older sources, scholars usually treat its origin cautiously.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Locklear is much more common in modern American records than in older English surname references, which suggests a relatively localized development of the spelling.