Family name origins & meanings
- German (Bär) : from Middle High German ber ‘bear’, a nickname for someone thought to resemble the animal in some way, a metonymic occupational name for someone who kept a performing bear, or a habitational name for someone who lived at a house distinguished by the sign of a bear. In some cases, it may derive from a personal name containing this element.
- Jewish (Ashkenazic) :
- Jewish (Ashkenazic) : from the Yiddish male personal name Ber, from Yiddish ber ‘bear’.
- Dutch : from Middle Dutch baer ‘naked’, ‘bare’. Debrabandere suggests it may have been a nickname for someone who wore ragged clothes.
- The family name Baer was established in Northampton Co., PA, in 1743.