Shephard
An occupational surname meaning “shepherd,” originally used for someone who tended sheep.
The #5,105 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 45,013 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Shephard is a spelling variant of Shepherd, from Old English words meaning “sheep” and “herd” or “keeper.” The literal sense is “sheep keeper,” referring to the occupation rather than a family link. Historical spellings were highly variable, so Shephard, Shepard, Sheppard, and Shepherd often refer to the same underlying name.
History
English records show many spellings of this common occupational surname, and the shorter form Shepard became established alongside Shepherd and Sheppard. The name spread widely in Britain and later in North America, where variant spellings often became fixed within individual families. 19th-century surname writers regularly treated Shephard as just one of several normal spellings of the same occupational name.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
19th-century writers often listed Shephard among a whole cluster of interchangeable spellings for the shepherd occupation-name.
From the historical record
“SHEPARD SHEPHARD SHEPHE(A)RDJ (Eng.) Shepherd [O.E. scedp-hierde] SHEPHARDSON 1 SHEPHERDSON Uthe) Shepherd's Son:”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)