Given name & surname
Shepard
“one who herds sheep”
Shepard is a variant of Shepherd. One English interpretation is “one who herds sheep.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
Shepard is a variant of Shepherd. One English interpretation is “one who herds sheep.”
Explained through its name family
Where it comes from
Shepard is a variant of Shepherd. An origin associated with Shepherd is English.
Explained through its name family
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1912. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Shepard through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 3,719
- 3,714 boys · 5 girls
- Most popular year
- 2025
- 268 babies
- 2025
- 268
- #892 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- +15%
- Rising
Where it’s given
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 268 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 892 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 14.7% higher in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. In 2025, Texas had the largest reported state-level birth count for boys with this name (28). Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 1,955 as a first name in 2020; 36,770 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Shepard’s family of names
Shepard has a related form in Shepherd. In English usage, Shepard as a surname has a conventional equivalent in the Russian form Шепард.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 1
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 1
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Shepard
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
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