Shepherd is a boy name with a modern feel, drawn from real birth records. Below you'll find what Shepherd means and where it comes from, plus how many babies have been named Shepherd across the United States, UK, Ireland and New Zealand, how popular Shepherd has been over the decades, and the year it peaked.
Shepherd is a boy name of Old English origin meaning “shepherd”. From an English occupational surname.
| Country | Births on record |
|---|---|
| United States since 1880 | 7,815 births |
| England & Wales since 1996 | 24 births |
Counts come from official national birth-registration statistics: U.S. Social Security Administration, England & Wales (Office for National Statistics), Scotland (National Records of Scotland), Northern Ireland (NISRA), Ireland (Central Statistics Office) and New Zealand (Dept. of Internal Affairs). Coverage spans differ, so totals aren't directly comparable across countries.
Babies named Shepherd per year, United States (1886 to 2025). United States peaked in 2025 (1,416/yr) · England & Wales peaked in 2024 (9/yr).
Shepherd has been a fairly common baby name in the United States. It was most common in 2025, when it ranked #475 nationally (given to 1,421 babies that year).
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