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

Scheer, 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 Scheer surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Scheer in America

Scheer is the 6015th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Scheer surname appeared 5,719 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 2 people would have the surname Scheer.

We can also compare 2010 data for Scheer 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.

The history of the last name Scheer

The surname Scheer is of German origin and derives from the Middle High German word "scheren", which means "to shear" or "to cut". It likely originated as an occupational name for a shearer or cloth cutter in the Middle Ages.

The name is first recorded in the 13th century in the region of Bavaria, southern Germany. Early variations of the spelling include Scherer, Scherer, and Schär. Similar names like Scheurer and Schürmann also emerged from the same root word.

One of the earliest known bearers of the name is Chunrat der Scherer, mentioned in a document from Regensburg, Bavaria in 1285. Another early record is of a Johannes Scherer from Nürnberg in 1348.

The Scheer name spread throughout German-speaking regions in the following centuries. It appears in various town records and taxation lists from the 14th to 16th centuries in places like Augsburg, Frankfurt, and Heidelberg.

Notable historical figures with the surname include Traugott von Scheer (1891-1973), a German naval officer who commanded the High Seas Fleet towards the end of World War I. Reinhard Scheer (1863-1928) was a German admiral and writer, known for his memoir "Germany's High Sea Fleet in the World War".

Other bearers of the name were Johann Baptist von Scherer (1768-1844), a German historian and writer, and Wilhelm Scheer (1876-1923), a German artist and painter associated with the Expressionist movement.

In the 19th century, the surname was well-established in regions like Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, and Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany. Scheer families also migrated to other parts of Europe and North America during this period.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Scheer

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

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 Scheer was:

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 Scheer has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

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 Scheer was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

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

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