This surname is derived from an official title. 'the friar'; v. Fryer, one of a religious brotherhood.

Benedictus le Frere, Cambridgeshire, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

John le Frere, Norfolk, ibid.

Walter le Frere, Essex, Henry III— Edward I: Testa de Nevill, sive Liber Feodorum, temp. Henry III-Edward I.

Cecylia le Frere, Somerset, 1 Edward III: Kirby's Quest.

Margota Frere, 1379: Poll Tax of Yorkshire.

Isabella Frere, 1379: ibid.

Philip Fryer or Freear, 1519: Register of the University of Oxford.

1540. Married — Maynerd Frere and Margaret Tonsoune: St. Peter, Cornhill.

1558. Anthony Eton and Elizabeth Freer: Marriage Lic. (London).

1773. Married — James Jacob and Sarah Frear: St. George, Hanover Square.

A "friar" or member of one of the mendicant monastic orders, ME. and OF. frere. Master William Frere, archdeacon of Lothian, was granted protection in England in 1296 (Bain, II, 741). He may be the William Frier, "dictus Frater," professor of canon law in the University of Paris, who was one of the Scottish emissaries at the Papal Court in 1300 (Hailes, Annals, I, p. 326). Adam Frere or Frer of the county of Berewyke, who rendered homage in 1296, appears again as juror on an inquest held at Peebles in 1304 (Bain, II, p. 207 , 377). Freer occurs in a list of the burgesses of Selkirk in 1513—15 and in a list of the inhabitants in Galashiels in 1656 both Frier and Frater are found (Craig Brown, Selkirkshire, I, p. 20; II, p. 389). For a notice of the family of Freer, sometime of Essendie, Innernethy, and Woodlands, in Perthshire, see Miscellanea genealogica et heraidica, London, 1876, II, p. 70—72. The Gaelic word frith, an incantation, is a loan from ON. frett, and the late Dr. Alexander Carmichael erroneously suggested (Carmina Gadelica, II, p. 159) that this surname might be a modification of Gaelic frithir, augurer, and added that persons bearing the name claim that their progenitors were astrologers to the kings of Scotland. Friar 1688, Freir 1580. See also Frater.

(Anglo-French-Latin) Friar, Brother [Middle English frere, Old French fre(i)re, lit. brother; Latin frater, brother]

French A brother.

A friar, a monk..

French, Frere, a friar, a monk, a brother.

Ansgot Frater of Normandy, 1198 (Magni Rotuli Scaccarii Normanniae). Walter le Frere (13th cent.) paid scutage in Essex (Testa de Neville, 364). Thomas F. of Framlingham, 1326, man at arms, attended the array at Loose, Suffolk (Parliamentary Writs). The fief of this family was held from the De Mandevilles, Earls of Essex.

From the Old Norse ,from the Swedish, from the Dutch, Freyr; from the German, Freier; from the French, Frère; a personal name.

Thomas Freer was incumbent of Whitwell, Rutlandshire, in the reign of Charles I. (Bl.). There were gentle families of the name in Great Wigston and Blaby, Leicestershire, daring last century. John Freer was rector of Knossington in the reign of Anne (N.). One of the name was mayor of Leicester about a century ago (T.). The name also occurs in Yorkshire. Since Leicestershire, Rutlandshire, and Yorkshire are all of them homes of both the Freers and the Fryers, the two names are probably different forms of the same name.