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Shepherd

#246 in 2025Boys' name

Sheep herder, shepherd

Shepherd has been given to 7,815 babies in the U.S. since 1886. In 2025 it ranked #246 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2025, with 1,408 recorded.

Babies named Shepherd, 2025

1 in 2,350

Shepherd over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
05001K1.5K18801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Shepherd: meaning, origin, and history

Sheep herder, shepherd

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Shepherd means

Shepherd means “sheep herder, shepherd”.

Origin, language, and formation

Shepherd is used in English.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 7,785 boys were recorded with the name Shepherd between 1886 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 1,408 in 2025; its best national rank was #246 in 2025.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #595 in 2020 to #246 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #1,109 in 2015 to #246 in 2025.

In the United States, 30 girls were recorded with the name Shepherd between 2011 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 10 in 2024; its best national rank was #10,159 in 2024.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Shepherd?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 2,350
1,408 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 1,210
0.08% of boys
Rank, 2025
#246
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
1,633 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Shepherd sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 301%
Grade of 1004%
School of 50019%

Put another way: gather 1,633 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Shepherd. In a class of 30 the chance is 1%.

When Shepherds were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Shepherd was born before 2022 — so the typical Shepherd is around 3 today.

Median birth year
2022
About 3 years old
Biggest decade
2020s
63.4% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
93.6%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
7,529
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2020s — 63.4% of all recorded uses (4,936).

Is Shepherd rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
+65
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+349
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+863
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
8.09×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
100.0%
Peak was 2025 (1,408)
Years since peak
Peaking now
At its all-time high
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
25.6% average annual change
Best rank ever
#246
2025

Spellings of Shepherd

Shepherd is the most-used spelling, taking 63.7% of the 12,215 babies given a near-identical spelling.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Shepherd is used

Across 2016–2025, Shepherd was most concentrated in Alabama — about 1 in 826 boys, against 1 in 2,516 across all states with data. It was least common in New Jersey (1 in 16,667).

6121 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Alabama1 in 826
  2. 2Oklahoma1 in 862
  3. 3Tennessee1 in 870
  4. 4Arkansas1 in 1,020
  5. 5Kentucky1 in 1,031
  6. 6South Carolina1 in 1,149
  7. 7Mississippi1 in 1,163
  8. 8North Carolina1 in 1,250

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Geographically, Shepherd is one of the more regionally concentrated names in the country — more concentrated than 80% of the names used widely enough to compare. See the most regional names

Shepherd around the world

Where Shepherd ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    2014–2025
    #3,684
    in 2025
  • Canada
    2009–2024
    #679
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    2010–2010
    #754
    in 2010

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Shepherd

People whose public names include Shepherd, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Shepherd in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Shepherd. Linked forms have their own page here.

Shep

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Shepherd by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#246
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 349
Best rank ever
#246
2025
Peak year
2025
1,408 that year
First recorded
1886
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
7,785
Count in 2025
1,408

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#11,781
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
New entry
Best rank ever
#10,159
2024
Peak year
2024
10 that year
First recorded
2011
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
30
Count in 2025
8

Names similar to Shepherd

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

SheridanSheltonSherwinShepardSherwoodShelbySheldonShedrickSheperdShermanSheppardSherrillShemarSheaSherrodSheamusShelleyShellySherrellShellieShervinSherifSheikhShephard

Names with a curve like Shepherd

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Shepherd, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

KoaBakerZyaireWellsJazielOnyxSuttonWilderColsonKodaCairoAres

Sibling names for Shepherd

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Shepherd

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