Explore the Family Name Bearse

The meaning of Bearse

English and Welsh: variant of Pierce. Compare Bearce and Bearss. History: Augustine Bearse (born 1618) arrived in Plymouth, MA, from Southampton, England on April 24, 1638, aboard the Confidence. A year later he was one of the founders of Barnstable, on Cape Cod.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Bearse in the United States?

The surname Bearse has seen a significant decline in popularity over the years, according to data from the Decennial U.S. Census. In 2000, it ranked 35,994 in terms of popularity among all surnames, but by 2010, it had dropped to 42,308, representing a decrease of 17.54%. The number of individuals with the Bearse surname also declined during this period, from 589 in 2000 to 513 in 2010, marking a 12.9% drop. Proportionally, per 100,000 people, the prevalence of the Bearse surname fell from 0.22 to 0.17, a decrease of 22.73%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#35,994	#42,308	-17.54%
Count	589	513	-12.9%
Proportion per 100k	0.22	0.17	-22.73%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Bearse

As for ethnicity distribution, the data from the Decennial U.S. Census reveals that the Bearse surname is predominantly associated with White ethnicity, accounting for 93.21% in 2000 and increasing slightly to 95.32% in 2010. Meanwhile, the percentage of those identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander and bearing the Bearse name diminished from 1.36% in 2000 to none in 2010. Those identifying as two or more races also saw a substantial decrease from 2.89% to 1.17%. The Hispanic representation remained relatively steady, showing a slight increase from 1.53% to 1.56%. The surname did not appear among Black and American Indian/Alaskan Native ethnicities in either year.

	2000	2010	Change
White	93.21%	95.32%	2.26%
Hispanic	1.53%	1.56%	1.96%
Two or More Races	2.89%	1.17%	-59.52%
Asian/Pacific Islander	1.36%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%