Most of the "English' forms of Irish surnames are phonetic representations bearing a similarity of appearance and sound to the originals, unlike those which were translated, i.e., O Bradain, rendered Braden and Breadon, and betimes Salmon (bradan, a salmon). OhAirt and Mac Airt, anglicised (O) Harte and MacArt, might have become (O) Bear and (Mac) Bear (art, a bear) as might O Mathuna and Mac Mathuna, anglicised (O) Mahoney and Mac Mahon as mathuin also means "abear".
The English surname Bear(e), mainly taken to derive from a place-name meaning "pasture, (especially) swine-pasture" or "grove" or "barley", had betimes "bear" (the animal) as its origin. This name, we are told, bears no reference to "strong drink". And whereas the Penguin Dictionary of Surnames links Beer(e) and Bear, de Bhulbh's Sloinnte na hEureann/ Irish Surnames treats them separately. "Beware: fairly rare: Ulster and Dublin. English toponymic", and "Beere: fairly rare: Midlands. See Beary".
De Bhulbh also includes Beers, which is not found in the Penguin. This is described as "fairly rare: N. Down etc. English: relating to `bear' rather than drink". The Phone Book of Northern Ireland lists Beers 23 times; Beare 21 times; Beer twice, and Beere once. South of the Border, Beer features twice, and Beare 12 times, seven of which are around Portlaoise, Co Laois.
Mathew de Renzy's Letters on Irish Affairs 1613-20 (Analecta Hibernica No. 34: editor Brian MacCuarta), contains the names Henry de Beere and Nicholas de la Beere among a group seeking a writ ordering the governor of Ireland and the justices of the Common Bench to proceed with a suit relating to the archdeaconry of Glendalough. Also mentioned here is Sir John Beere, prime sergeant and commissioner of the courts of wards from 1610 onwards. No 34 also contains A Minister's Money Account for Clonmel (Co Tipperary) 1703, wherein a Mr Beer is listed concerning a house on the south side of High Street.
A notice of 1655 adverted to "the comfourte and preservation of many English women, who (being come into a strange country) had otherwise been destitute of due helpe, and necessitated to expose their lives to the mercy of Irish midwives, ignorant in their profession, and bearing little good will to any of the English nation" need look no further than Mrs Jane Prestwick, alias Beere, who "hath through the blessing of God been very successful within Dublin and parts about, through the carefull and skillful discharge of her midwife's duty. . ."
A Census of Ireland c. 1659 lists William Bear (also spelt Beares), gent, titulado of BallymcConnoghy, Co. Down, as well as a 1660 Commissioner of the Poll-Money Ordinance for that county. Richard Beare was titulado of South Suburb (St. John's) in Cork city, and of Liscarroll, Co Cork. And finally Richard Beers, gent, was among the tituladoes of the "Lambegge People" in the Co Antrim barony of Belfast.
Robert Beere, Aungier Street, city of Dublin, grocer, made his will in 1807, and Philip Beere, Carlotte Street, Dublin, gentleman, made his in 1821. The 1814 Directory lists Mr Beere, Ballyhohan, in the Co Tipperary parish of Tubbrid, in the vicinity of Clonmel. Owners of Land of One Acre and Upwards (1876) lists Reps. of Richard Beere, Dublin, with 24 Co Tipperary acres; Richard Beere (the same?), Monkstown, Dublin with two Co Sligo acres; Robert Bear, Lurganagoose, Castledawson, with 13 Co Derry acres; J. Leslie Beers, Ballymoney with 1,244 Co Antrim acres; William Beers, Brook Cottage, Castlewellan, with 339 Co Armagh acres, and John (Leslie?) Beers, Leslie Hill, with 15 Co Donegal acres.
But back to the above exhortation - "See Beary". Of this surname de Bhulbh says "fairly rare: Limerick etc. O Beara. A sept of Offaly, related to the O Dempseys, but now rare there. Woulfe found it in Mayo". Of the 23 Beary entries in current telephone directories south of the Border, 13 are in the 06 area. Annala Rioghachta Eireann/Annals of the Four Masters records the 1026 slaying of Cuduiligh O Beargtha, lord of Ui Duach, an area coterminous with the diocese of Ossory which is in counties Offaly, Kilkenny and Laois. O hUidhrin's section of Topographical Poems (c.1420) notes O Beargha, lord of Uibh Rosa, now the Co Limerick parish of Iveruss.
Padraig O Snodaigh writes briefly in Feasta (Feabhra 2001) about "Patricia Beer & the Plymouth Brethern", but does not give her date and place of birth. Thekla Beere (1902-91) who was born in Kells, Co Meath, was the daughter of Rev. Francis Beere. She joined the civil service, becoming secretary of the Department of Transport and Power in 1959, the first woman to head a government department.