in Ayrshire, Scotland
The surname AYRE in Britain has independent origins in England and Scotland.
The AYRE name (of that spelling) is comparatively rare throughout the world. A reliable source of name statistics is the University College, London (UCL) whose findings are presented on the website of the National Trust. Their website is often overloaded by researchers, but the cached data is usually accessible at BritishSurnames.co.uk.
The highest concentration of Ayre families (of that spelling) in Gt. Britain is in the north east of England, in neighbouring Sunderland, Houghton-le-Spring and Durham. Outwith Gt. Britain the geographical spread, in descending occurrences, is Northern Ireland, Australia, Canada, and the USA. There are no modern occurrences recorded in the Republic of Ireland.
In England, - dismissing the Battle of Hastings origin nonsense - the evolution of the name is believed to be le Heyr - le Eyr - Eyre - Eyres, and the variations are Eyre(s) and Ayre(s).
In Scotland, the variations are Air, Ayr and Ayre, seen in early records as 'de Are' and 'de Ayr', which supports the claim of an Ayrshire territorial origin.
An on-line visit to The General Register Office for Scotland for a free search of records between 1513 and 1956 shows the Scottish Ayre surname to be comparatively rare. The Census count in 1901 was 89, the highest for 60 years, and a map showing AYRE families distribution in Scotland from the 1891 Census can be examined here.
The table below was produced from the EllisIslandRecords.org records of passengers with these name variations arriving at Ellis Island between 1892 and 1924. Scotland and England columns show the recorded residency and not ethnicity.
It is quite clear from this sample that AYR is Scottish, AYRE is found more frequently in England than in Scotland, and that AYRES, EYRE, and EYRES are predominantly English. The AYER spelling is almost exclusively American.
| NAME | TOTAL | SCOTLAND | ENGLAND |
| Air | 27 | 9 | 6 |
| Ayr | 16 | 6 | 0 |
| Ayre | 115 | 13 | 25 |
| Ayres | 593 | 1 | 71 |
| Eyre | 293 | 7 | 69 |
| Eyres | 65 | 0 | 41 |
| Ayer | 289 | 0 | 13 |
In Ayrshire, Scotland, the county and the town take their name from the river Ayr. The origin of the name Ayr may be from Gaelic ar meaning clear, or derived from the Old Norse eyrr (a strip of shingle beach), or from an early pre-Celtic Indo-European stratum of river names. The river Ayr has had different spellings over time, namely Ar c.1177, Are 1197, Air c.1230, Ayre 1237, Aare c.1400, and Scottish surnames with these spellings could denote persons who came from Ayr.
Note the spelling is AYRE on the 1686 map by John Adair (1650 -1722) titled 'A mape of the west of Scotland containing Clydsdail, Nithsdail, Ranfrew, Shyre of Ayre, & Galloway'. Later, in 1777, a map by T.Kitchin & J.Barber named 'Airshire from the best Authorities' uses the Air spelling for the town and the river. This rare map can be viewed here.
These persons, recorded at various dates, testify to the antiquity of Ayre surname variations in the lowlands of Scotland:
Robert Air of Hederslawe, Berwickshire, 1281.
Reginald of Ayr, Clerk in Ayr, 1287.
Johan Ayr of Ayton, Berwickshire, 1296 (visit the Ragman Rolls here).
John of Ayr, Chaplain of St.John the Baptist Church at Ayr, 1301.
Aubinus de Are, 1315-21.
Thomas Ayre, Provost of Kintore, 1331.
Elyas Ayr 1336.
Geoffrey Ayre, Baillie of Dundee, latter 1370s, mentioned in the Exchequer Rolls.
Margaret Stewart, Countess of Mar and Angus received a charter from Robert Ayre of Fastforeland, Berwickshire in 1375.
Walterus de Are, 1399.
Richard, Brice, Henry and William Ayre, 1401.
Dogall de Are, 1430.
Michael Ayr, Johannem de Ayr, Brechin, 1450.
William Ayr, lands in the Lordship of Dunbar, 1522, 1535.
William Ayre, Jacobite prisoner, transported to Maryland on 'Friendship', May 1716, arrived August 1716.
George Ayre, son of a Scottish immigrant, established the Ayrshire Plantation in Virginia, in 1821.
The only major recognisable Scottish cultural community outside of Scotland in the United Kingdom is in Ulster. It runs in a huge arch from the Ards peninsula of Co. Down, up through Antrim and north Derry, to taper out in the Laggan region of Donegal. In religion, music, literary tradition and especially language, it is thoroughly Lowland and Scots speaking (see 'The Scots Ower the Sheuch').
The surname Ayre in Ulster (Northern Ireland) is of lowland Scottish origin, as would be expected from the vast emigration to the eastern counties of the province from 1400 onwards. It is estimated that at least 200 000 lowland Scots settled in Ulster during the Ulster Plantation scheme of 1605-97.
The emigration to Ulster included Huguenots in the 18th century, escaping persecution and torture in Catholic France for their Calvinist faith. The intolerant Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes in 1685, so outlawing the Reformers (whom they called Huguenots in ridicule). Ireland's debt to the Huguenots is for their creation of the
Irish linen industry, centered around Lisburn and Randalstown in Co. Antrim. The Huguenot names appearing in Parish Registers include
Ayres (with an 's').Whilst they shared the Presbyterian 'work-ethic' of the Scottish immigrants and worked together in religious harmony, the fortunes of those Huguenot Ayres in Ulster will probably remain unknown. Of those Huguenot Ayres who later reached the friendly American Colonies, some are to be found in genealogies on the internet.