With its numerous variants (Myer, Meyr, Meier, Meijer, Mayer, Maier, Mayr, Mair, Miers, etc.
[1] Its original meaning in Middle High German is from mei(g)er, "manager (of a lord's country estate)", derived from Latin maior domus, i.e. "headman of a household" (cf.
It is therefore a rough equivalent of the English Steward, which has also been turned into surnames such as Stuart.
This appellation was also frequently used to form longer, more specific surnames such as Bergmair or Niedermeier.
[2] In 2014, the surname Meyer was most often found (by percentage of the population) in Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg and South Africa.