Shepard: Last Name Origin and Family Crest

Shepard is a familiar spelling of the English name Shepherd. Read literally, Shepard points to “Sheep herder”. Shepard is listed among the recognised spellings of Shepherd. Before spelling was standardised, one family could appear under several forms. Other spellings include Sheppard, Shephard and Shepperd.

The 2010 US Census counted 39,430 people named Shepard, ranking it number 882 among American surnames. That puts it among the top 1,000 US surnames.

Arms linked to Shepherd and its spellings were granted to individual families; our heraldry team traces which line they belonged to. Get the complete Shepard report, with a museum-style coat of arms.