Bayer is a

surname In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community. Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name ...

with various origins. It occurs most commonly in German-speaking countries, where it can be either habitational (''Bayer'' being the male German language demonym for

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

) or occupational (derived from the archaic German verb ''beiern'', "to ring (a bell)", thus referring to individuals tasked with ringing church bells). Variants of the surname include Baier,

Beyer :''See also Bayer (surname) and buyer.'' Beyer is mostly a German family name, occurring most commonly in German-speaking countries. It can be either habitational (derived from ''Bayer'', which is the male German language demonym for Bavaria) or ...

and Beier. In the English-speaking world, the surname comes from the ancient kingdom of

Bernicia Bernicia ( ang, Bernice, Bryneich, Beornice; la, Bernicia) was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom established by Anglian settlers of the 6th century in what is now southeastern Scotland and North East England. The Anglian territory of Bernicia was ap ...

, in what is now southeastern

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and

North East England North East England is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The region has three current administrative levels below the region level in the region; combined authority, unitary authorit ...

. It is derived from the place name Byers, which in turn comes from the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

''byre'', meaning cattle-shed. Related names include Byers, Byres, Byer, Buyers and Byris.Bayer Surname History
at HouseOfNames.com

People with this surname

Andrew Bayer Andrew Michael Bayer (born 1987) is an American DJ and Grammy-nominated music producer. He is best known for working with Anjunabeats as a multi-genre artist and English deep house sublabel Anjunadeep. Born in Washington, D.C., Bayer was pia ...

(born 1987), American DJ and record producer *

Bryce Bayer Bryce Edward Bayer (/ˈbaɪər/; pronounced BYE-er, August 15, 1929 – November 13, 2012) was an American scientist who invented the Bayer filter, which is used in most modern digital cameras. He has been called "the maestro without whom photogra ...

(1929–2012), American scientist *

Carl Josef Bayer Carl Josef Bayer (also Karl Bayer, March 4, 1847 – October 4, 1904) was an Austrian chemist who invented the Bayer process of extracting alumina from bauxite, essential to this day to the economical production of aluminium. Bayer had been work ...

(1847–1904), Austrian chemist * Edward A. Bayer (born 1947), American-Israeli scientist *

Frederick Bayer Frederick Merkle Bayer (October 31, 1921 – October 2, 2007) was an emeritus curator of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, as well as a prominent marine biologist who specialized in the study of soft corals. E ...

(1921–2007), American marine biologist *

Friderika Bayer Ilona Csukáné (born 4 October 1971), known professionally as Friderika Bayer, is a Hungarian people, Hungarian singer. She is best known for Hungary in the Eurovision Song Contest 1994, representing Hungary at the Eurovision Song Contest 1994 wi ...

(born 1971), Hungarian singer *

Friedrich Bayer Friedrich Bayer (born Friedrich Beyer, 6 June 1825 in Barmen now Wuppertal – 6 May 1880 in Würzburg) was the founder of what would become Bayer, a German chemical and pharmaceutical company. He founded the dyestuff factory ''Friedrich Bayer'' ...

(1825–1880), German businessman and chemist, founder of what is now the German multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company

Bayer Bayer AG (, commonly pronounced ; ) is a German multinational corporation, multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company and one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Headquartered in Leverkusen, Bayer's areas of busi ...

George Bayer George Bayer (September 15, 1925 – March 16, 2003) was an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour and the Senior PGA Tour. Bayer was born in Bremerton, Washington. He attended the University of Washington and was a member ...

(1800-1839), German music teacher and American pioneer *

Herbert Bayer Herbert Bayer (April 5, 1900 – September 30, 1985) was an Austrian and American graphic designer, painter, photographer, sculptor, art director, environmental and interior designer, and architect. He was instrumental in the development of the ...

(1900–1985), Austrian graphic designer, painter, and photographer *

Johann Bayer Johann Bayer (1572 – 7 March 1625) was a German lawyer and uranographer (celestial cartographer). He was born in Rain, Lower Bavaria, in 1572. At twenty, in 1592 he began his study of philosophy and law at the University of Ingolstadt, a ...

(1572–1625), German astronomer *

Josef Bayer Josef Bayer (6 March 1852 – 12 March 1913) was an Austrian composer and the director of the Austrian Court Ballet from 1883 until his death. He was born and died in Vienna. Biography He studied at the Vienna Conservatory under the elder J ...

(1852–1913), Austrian composer * Margaret Bayer, American mathematician * Melda Bayer (born 1950), Turkish businesswoman and politician *

Osvaldo Bayer Osvaldo Bayer (18 February 1927 – 24 December 2018) was an Argentine writer and journalist. He lived in Buenos Aires. In 1974, during the presidency of Isabel Perón, he went into exile, residing in Linz am Rhein, Germany, throughout the Natio ...

(1927–2018), Argentine journalist and scriptwriter *

Otto Bayer Otto Bayer (4 November 1902 – 1 August 1982) was a German industrial chemist at IG Farben who was head of the research group that in 1937 discovered the polyaddition for the synthesis of polyurethanes out of poly-isocyanate and polyol. Bay ...

(1902–1982), German inventor and chemist * Pilar Bayer (born 1946), Spanish mathematician *

Samuel Bayer Samuel David Bayer (born February 17, 1962) is an American Visual arts, visual artist, cinematographer, and commercial, music video and film director. Bayer was born in Syracuse, New York. He graduated from New York City's School of Visual Arts ...

(born 1965), American film director * Svend Bayer (born 1946), Danish-British potter * Theodore Bayer, American newspaper publisher and alleged spy *

Vanessa Bayer Vanessa Bayer (born November 14, 1981) is an American actress and comedian. She is best known for being a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 2010 to 2017, which earned her an Emmy nomination. She co-created, co-executive produces, and h ...

(born 1981), American actress and comedian *

William Bayer William Bayer (pronounced “byer”) is an American novelist, the author of twenty-one books including ''The New York Times'' best-sellers ''Switch'' and ''Pattern Crimes.'' Bayer has written a series of novels featuring fictional New York Poli ...

(born 1939), American author *

Zsolt Bayer Zsolt Bayer (born 26 February 1963) is a Hungarian far-right and ultra-conservative journalist, whose views have been widely described as racist and antisemitic. He was a co-founder of the ruling Fidesz party and close confidant of Prime Ministe ...

(born 1963), Hungarian far-right journalist

People with this surname

References

See also