Shepard surname meaning

Shepard is an English occupational surname, a spelling variant of Shepherd. The name comes from Middle English schepeherde, from Old English words for “sheep” and “herder” or “guardian,” marking someone who tended sheep. Shepherd, Sheppard, Shephard, and Shepard are historical spellings; Shepard is especially common in American records. DAFN also notes Americanized translations of French Berger and of some Jewish or continental surnames that meant “shepherd.” Occupation is high confidence for the English sheep-herder trade name that all major spellings share; translated foreign forms are secondary streams under the same English spelling.