Lair, Lehr, Layer.

After looking at a lot of records tonight, I am betting their name really was Lair or the like, because I keep seeing it spelled not only as Lair, but as Layer. Which makes me wonder what their ethnicity was. German? French? English? I always assumed English, maybe Irish, wish a name like Lear. But if it is Lair or Lehr, then that makes me learn towards German. And there were German Lear families in Jessamine County area. Hmmmmmm. Now the question is, do any of the German Lear families come from Virginia before Kentucky?