Pearse is a surname. Notable people with the name include:
- Alfred Pearse (1855–1933), English cartoonist and campaigner
- Arthur Sperry Pearse (1877–1956), American botanist and zoologist
- Barbara Pearse (born 1948), British biological scientist
- Benjamin Pearse (1832–1902), Anglo-Canadian surveyor and administrator
- Cecilia, Lady Pearse (1853–1926), British writer
- Christopher Pearse Cranch (1813–1892), American writer and artist
- George Pearse (disambiguation), several people
- Guy Pearse, Australian author and environmentalist
- Isabel Pearse (1912–1999), American actress
- John Pearse (politician) (c.1760–1836), British politician and Governor of the Bank of England
- John Pearse (1939–2008), British guitarist
- Mabel Cosgrove Wodehouse Pearse (born 1872), Irish writer
- Margaret Pearse (1857–1932), Irish politician, mother of Patrick, Willie and Margaret Mary
- Margaret Mary Pearse (1878–1968), Irish politician and teacher, sister of Patrick Pearse
- Mark Guy Pearse (1842–1930), English preacher, lecturer and author
- Ormerod Pearse (1884–1953), South African cricketer
- Patrick Pearse (1879–1916), Irish teacher, barrister, poet, writer, nationalist and political activist, older brother of William Pearse
- Richard Pearse (1877–1953), New Zealand inventor
- Rupert Pearse, British physician specialising in intensive care medicine
- Samuel Pearse (1897–1919), Australian soldier and recipient of the Victoria Cross
- Samuel Herbert Pearse (born 1865), Nigerian businessman
- Susan Beatrice Pearse (1878–1980), British illustrator
- Thomas Deane Pearse (c.1738–1789), British Army officer
- Vyvyan Pearse (1891–1956), South African cricketer
- Willie Pearse (1881–1916), Irish nationalist, younger brother of Patrick Pearse