# Shepherd (surname)

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

An English surname originating as an occupation.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | occupational, named after the work an ancestor did |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 60,479 |
| US rank (2010) | 557 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 5,105 people |
| Change since 2000 | +4.4% (57,935 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | Shepard, Shephard, Sheppard, Shepperd |

## Etymology

From shepherd.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Shepherd 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) | 79% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 16% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.0% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.5% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.9% |
| Two or more races | 1.9% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Shepherd in the United States, the United Kingdom, South Africa and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

## People named Shepherd

- Cybill Shepherd, American actress
- William Shepherd, American astronaut
- Sherri Shepherd, American actress, comedian, author and television personality
- Ben Shepherd, American musician
- Kenny Wayne Shepherd, American guitarist
- Scott Shepherd, American actor
- Dennis Shepherd, boxer (1926–2006)
- William Robert Shepherd, American cartographer and historian (1871–1934)
- Nan Shepherd, (1893 - 1981), Scottish novelist, poet, educator
- Jean Shepherd, American writer and radio host (1921–1999)
- Elizabeth Shepherd, British actress
- Malcolm Shepherd, 2nd Baron Shepherd, British Baron (1918-2001)

and 5 more on Wikidata.

## Similar surnames

Shephard, Shepard, Sheppard, Shepardson, Sheperd, Shepperd, Schubert, Seibert, Seifert, Swafford, Spradlin, Siebert.

## 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.