# Sheppard (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/sheppard/  
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 | English |
| Type | occupational, named after the work an ancestor did |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 36,960 |
| US rank (2010) | 938 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 8,354 people |
| Change since 2000 | +4.0% (35,554 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

From Middle English, from schepherde (“shepherd”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Sheppard 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) | 67% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 27% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.6% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.5% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.8% |
| Two or more races | 2.0% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Sheppard in the United States and the United Kingdom.

## People named Sheppard

- Scott S. Sheppard, American astronomer
- Mel Sheppard, American athlete (1883–1942)
- W. Morgan Sheppard, British actor (1932–2019)
- Steve Sheppard, American basketball player (born 1954)
- Reed Sheppard, American basketball player (born 2004)
- William Henry Sheppard, African American missionary for the Presbyterian Church (1865–1927)
- Ben Sheppard, American basketball player (born 2001)
- Sam Sheppard, American neurosurgeon (1923-1970)
- Dave Sheppard, American weightlifter (1931–2000)
- John Calhoun Sheppard, American politician (1850–1931)
- Jeff Sheppard, American basketball player (born 1974)
- Jim Sheppard, American musician

and 1 more on Wikidata.

## Similar surnames

Shepard, Sheperd, Shepperd, Shepherd, Shephard, Shepardson, 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.