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Summary
- No one named Howard appears in the Bible, and the name has no Hebrew form or meaning.
- Howard is an English surname with several possible sources: the Norman name Huard, the Old Norse Hávarðr (“high guardian”) and the Middle English ewehirde, “ewe herder.”
- The surname is first recorded in 1221 and is best known as the name of the Dukes of Norfolk.
- Saint Philip Howard (1557–1595), Earl of Arundel, died a prisoner in the Tower of London and was canonized in 1970 as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
- The “Saint Howard of Northumberland” described in some accounts is not historical.
- Howard ranked 44th among American boys’ names in 1880 and peaked at 24th in 1919 and 1920.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Behind the Name, “Howard” and “Hughard,” with United States popularity figures from Social Security Administration data. https://www.behindthename.com/name/howard
- “Howard (surname),” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_(surname)
- “Howard,” Wikipedia, on the given name, quoting The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names (1945). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_(given_name)
- “Philip Howard, 13th Earl of Arundel,” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Howard,_13th_Earl_of_Arundel
- Arundel Cathedral, “North Transept and Shrine of St. Philip Howard.” https://arundelcathedral.uk/north-transept-and-shrine-of-st-philip-howard
- “Forty Martyrs of England and Wales,” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forty_Martyrs_of_England_and_Wales
- Scripture quotation: Romans 8:18, English Standard Version.
