Dear Family Crest & Name History

Dear belongs to the Dare family of names, which has English roots. Read literally, Dear points to “A descendant of Deor (brave, or bold)”. Records show Dear as one of the forms Dare took over time. Spellings drifted because names were written down by ear in parish books, tax rolls and passenger lists. Related forms: Deare and Dares.

According to the 2010 US Census, the Dear surname had 3,677 bearers. That is enough to place it in the top 10,000 American surnames. Similar-sounding surnames on Herald Lab: Deer.

There is no single Dear family crest for every bearer. Herald Lab researches the arms historically associated with the name and explains whose they were. For the full story, order the Dear surname pack.