As of 2021[update], Boyer ranks 55th in the most common surnames in France.[3] For the period 1891–1990 it ranked 34th.[4]
Like many other surnames, it used to be a nickname describing somebody's job: "bullock driver", "cowherd", that is to say Bouvier in common French.[5][6] It derives mainly from the
Occitanbuòu "ox", with the suffix -iar / -ier, frenchified phonetically or, further north, sometimes from a variant form in dialectal French bô, bou "ox" corresponding to common French bœuf with the suffix -ier. In French, the modern spelling -oyer[waje] avoids confusion between -oi-er[wae] and -oier[waje].
In rarer cases, it can be a corruption or deliberate alteration of several other names :
In England, it may come from
bowyer, meaning "bow maker" or "bow seller."[7]
In Turkish, the name may come from "boy-er", "boy" meaning "size" or "stature" and "er" meaning "man" or "soldier."
It can also be a corruption or deliberate alteration of German names like Bayer or Bauer.
People with the surname
Abel Boyer (1667–1729), French-English lexicographer and journalist
Rick Boyer (1943–2021), American author and university professor
Robert Stephen Boyer, American professor of computer science, mathematics, and philosophy at The University of Texas at Austin
Robert Hamilton Boyer (1932-1966), a visiting professor shot and killed in Charles Whitman's shooting spree at The University of Texas at Austin in 1966, known for the
Boyer–Lindquist coordinates
This page lists people with the
surnameBoyer. If an
internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that
link by adding the person's
given name(s) to the link.
As of 2021[update], Boyer ranks 55th in the most common surnames in France.[3] For the period 1891–1990 it ranked 34th.[4]
Like many other surnames, it used to be a nickname describing somebody's job: "bullock driver", "cowherd", that is to say Bouvier in common French.[5][6] It derives mainly from the
Occitanbuòu "ox", with the suffix -iar / -ier, frenchified phonetically or, further north, sometimes from a variant form in dialectal French bô, bou "ox" corresponding to common French bœuf with the suffix -ier. In French, the modern spelling -oyer[waje] avoids confusion between -oi-er[wae] and -oier[waje].
In rarer cases, it can be a corruption or deliberate alteration of several other names :
In England, it may come from
bowyer, meaning "bow maker" or "bow seller."[7]
In Turkish, the name may come from "boy-er", "boy" meaning "size" or "stature" and "er" meaning "man" or "soldier."
It can also be a corruption or deliberate alteration of German names like Bayer or Bauer.
People with the surname
Abel Boyer (1667–1729), French-English lexicographer and journalist
Rick Boyer (1943–2021), American author and university professor
Robert Stephen Boyer, American professor of computer science, mathematics, and philosophy at The University of Texas at Austin
Robert Hamilton Boyer (1932-1966), a visiting professor shot and killed in Charles Whitman's shooting spree at The University of Texas at Austin in 1966, known for the
Boyer–Lindquist coordinates
This page lists people with the
surnameBoyer. If an
internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that
link by adding the person's
given name(s) to the link.