as a First Name
Transferred use of the surname of an English noble family. The surname has a large number of possible origins, but in the case of the noble family early forms often have the spelling Haward, and so it is probably from a Scandinavian personal name derived from hā ‘high’ + varðr ‘guardian’. (The traditional derivation from the Old English name Hereweard ‘army guardian’ is untenable.) It is now a widespread given name.
| 245th in the U.S. for 2011 |
Nicknames & variations
Quick facts
- Hundreds of thousands
- of people in the U.S have this name
- 247,568
- to be exact (as of February 2011)
- 321,823
- if you include dead people (since the government started keeping track)
- West Virginia
- has the most people named Howard per capita
- 1915
- marked the height of its popularity
0.01%
99.99%
68%
55+
55+
27%
30-54
30-54
3%
13-29
13-29
2%
0-12
0-12
Top state populations
U.S. Distribution Map
