Pear Family History

English: from Middle English pe(e)re ‘pear’ (Old English pere, peru, from Latin pirum), a metonymic occupational name for a grower or seller of pears, or a topographic name for someone who lived by a pear tree or pear orchard. English: nickname from Middle English pere ‘peer’, ‘companion’ (Old French pe(e)r, from Latin par ‘equal’). Jewish: Americanization of some like-sounding Ashkenazic surname; e.g. possibly a shortened form of a surname such as Pearl, Pearlman, or Pearlstein.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press