Queary last name popularity, history, and meaning

Find out how popular the last name Queary is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Queary.

Meaning of Queary

An anglicized spelling of the Irish surname Ó Cuairé referring to one from the region of Coorhee.

Queary, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Queary surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Queary in America

Queary is the 134712th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Queary surname appeared 125 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Queary.

We can also compare 2010 data for Queary to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

2010 2000 Change (%)
Rank 134712 128797 4.49%
Count 125 122 2.43%
Proportion per 100k 0.04 0.05 -22.22%

The history of the last name Queary

The surname Queary is believed to have originated in Ireland, with the earliest recorded examples dating back to the 16th century. It is thought to be derived from the Irish Gaelic word "cuairt," meaning "circuit" or "tour." This suggests that the name may have originally been associated with travelers, merchants, or those who traveled as part of their occupation.

One of the earliest recorded references to the surname Queary can be found in the Annals of the Four Masters, a chronicle of medieval Irish history written in the early 17th century. The annals mention a person named Donnchadh Queary, who lived in the late 16th century and was a prominent figure in the province of Ulster.

During the 17th and 18th centuries, the Queary surname was particularly concentrated in the counties of Donegal and Tyrone in Ulster. Some variations in the spelling of the name can be found in historical records, including Quaery, Quaerey, and Quairey.

In the late 18th century, a notable person with the surname Queary was Patrick Queary (1738-1805), an Irish Catholic priest and educator who founded a Catholic seminary in Drogheda. Another individual of note was John Queary (1795-1876), a Irish-born soldier who served in the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars and later settled in Canada.

In the 19th century, the Queary surname began to spread beyond Ireland due to emigration. One prominent individual from this period was Edward Queary (1819-1895), an Irish-born politician and journalist who served as a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly in the United States.

Other notable figures with the Queary surname include:

  1. James Queary (1855-1925), an Irish-born Australian politician and lawyer who served as Attorney-General of Western Australia.
  2. Michael Queary (1901-1984), an Irish-born Canadian politician who served as a member of the Canadian House of Commons.
  3. Mary Queary (1906-1991), an American artist and painter known for her landscapes and still life paintings.
  4. John Queary (1920-2002), an Irish-born British author and historian who wrote extensively on the history of Ireland.
  5. Patrick Queary (1948-2018), an Irish-born American businessman and philanthropist who founded the Queary Foundation, a charitable organization supporting education and healthcare initiatives.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Queary

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Queary.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

  1. White only
  2. Black only
  3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
  4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
  5. Hispanic
  6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Queary was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 80.00% 100
Non-Hispanic Black Only 16.80% 21
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.00% 0
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races (S)% (S)
Hispanic Origin 0.00% 0

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Queary has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 80.00% 77.87% 2.70%
Black 16.80% 18.03% -7.06%
Asian and Pacific Islander (S)% (S)% (S)%
American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.00% (S)% (S)%
Two or More Races (S)% (S)% (S)%
Hispanic 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Queary was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Queary, please contact us.

Reference this page

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If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!

"Queary last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on October 14, 2024. http://namecensus.com/last-names/queary-surname-popularity/.

"Queary last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/queary-surname-popularity/. Accessed 14 October, 2024

Queary last name popularity, history, and meaning. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from http://namecensus.com/last-names/queary-surname-popularity/.

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