Greer is a Scottish surname that grew out of Gregor, the Scottish form of Gregory, from the Greek gregoros, "watchful" or "alert". Oscar-winning actress Greer Garson gave it glamour in the 1940s, and today it fits the trend for crisp, one-syllable surname names such as Blair and Sloane. Greer ranked number 3089 in 2000, hovered around 2000 to 2400 for a decade and reached number 1851 in 2025, its best rank so far.