Beares Surname, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Buy JPG Image »

The roots of the Anglo-Saxon name Beares come from when the family resided in Devon, where they took their name from one of the many places named Bear, Beare, Beara, et c., found in that county. The surname is likely to be derived from the Old English word bearu, which means grove. Several early instances of that name are in the form le beare, or the bear, from the Old English bera.

Beares Early Origins

PDF Coat of Arms
+ Extended History

PDF Coat of Arms + Extended Surname History

Buy PDF History »

The surname Beares was first found in Devon where there are two places on the banks of Tamar called Beer-Alston and Beer-Ferris. In Dorset, place names include Beer- Hacket and Beer-Regis. The earliest reference of the name was in Devon where it was listed as Bera in the Domesday Book

Beares Spelling Variations

The English language only became standardized in the last few centuries; therefore, spelling variations are common among early Anglo-Saxon names. As the form of the English language changed, even the spelling of literate people's names evolved. Beares has been recorded under many different variations, including Beare, Bear, Beer, Bere, Beares, Bears, Beers and many more.

Beares Early History

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Beares research. Another 239 words (17 lines of text) covering the years 1207, 1684, 1354 and 1355 are included under the topic Early Beares History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Beares Early Notables (pre 1700)

Another 17 words (1 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Beares Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

The Great Migration

For many English families, the political and religious disarray that shrouded England made the far away New World an attractive prospect. On cramped disease-ridden ships, thousands migrated to those British colonies that would eventually become Canada and the United States. Those hardy settlers that survived the journey often went on to make important contributions to the emerging nations in which they landed. Analysis of immigration records indicates that some of the first North American immigrants bore the name Beares or a variant listed above:

Beares Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

Richard Beares, who arrived in Watertown, Massachusetts in 1637

Beares Family Crest Products

Citations

^ Lowe, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
^ Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)

Other References

Hanks, Patricia and Flavia Hodges. A Dictionary of Surnames. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988. Print. (ISBN 0-19-211592-8).
Papworth, J.W and A.W Morant. Ordinary of British Armorials. London: T.Richards, 1874. Print.
Fairbairn. Fairbain's book of Crests of the Families of Great Britain and Ireland, 4th Edition 2 volumes in one. Baltimore: Heraldic Book Company, 1968. Print.
Best, Hugh. Debrett's Texas Peerage. New York: Coward-McCann, 1983. Print. (ISBN 069811244X).
Library of Congress. American and English Genealogies in the Library of Congress. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1967. Print.
Colletta, John P. They Came In Ships. Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1993. Print.
Chadwick, Nora Kershaw and J.X.W.P Corcoran. The Celts. London: Penguin, 1790. Print. (ISBN 0140212116).
Dunkling, Leslie. Dictionary of Surnames. Toronto: Collins, 1998. Print. (ISBN 0004720598).
Bardsley, C.W. A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6).
Marcharn, Frederick George. A Constitutional History of Modern England 1485 to the Present. London: Harper and Brothers, 1960. Print.
...

The Beares Family Crest was acquired from the Houseofnames.com archives. The Beares Family Crest was drawn according to heraldic standards based on published blazons. We generally include the oldest published family crest once associated with each surname.

This page was last modified on 15 January 2016 at 09:31.