Given name & surname
Shephard
“one who herds sheep”
Shephard is a variant of Shepherd. One English interpretation is “one who herds sheep.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
Shephard is a variant of Shepherd. One English interpretation is “one who herds sheep.”
Explained through its name family
Where it comes from
Shephard 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 1952. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Shephard through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 84
- 84 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 2025
- 16 babies
- 2025
- 16
- #5,814 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- +100%
- Rising fast
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 16 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 5,814 among boys’ names. The recent annual counts are too incomplete to establish a ten-year comparison. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 145 as a first name in 2020; 6,306 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.
Shephard’s family of names
Shephard has a related form in Shepherd. In English usage, Shephard as a surname has a conventional equivalent in the French form Berger. In English usage, Shephard 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 2
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
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