# Heard (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/heard/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | occupational, named after the work an ancestor did |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 23,408 |
| US rank (2010) | 1,534 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 13,190 people |
| Change since 2000 | +5.4% (22,211 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

Occupational Middle English surname for shepherds or cowherds, from herde, from Old English heord (“herd”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Heard in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 39% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 55% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.4% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.4% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.4% |
| Two or more races | 3.1% |

## Similar surnames

Hardy, Heredia, Hardee, Harrod, Herd, Hardie, Hoard, Hard, Herod, Harada, Herrod, Heart.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.