Frequency: (477)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
1. English and Irish (County Limerick): variant of Shire.
2. Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): metonymic occupational name for a Talmudic teacher, from Yiddish shier ‘lesson of the Talmud’.
3. Americanized spelling of German Schier.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
