Howard
Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German *Hugihard "heart-brave", or *Hoh-ward, literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also probably in some cases a confusion with the Old Norse cognate Haward (Hávarðr), which means "high guard", and as a surname also with the unrelated Hayward. In some rare cases it is from the Old English eowu hierde "ewe herd".[1][2] In Anglo-Norman the French digram -ou- was often rendered as -ow- such as tour → tower, flour (western variant form of fleur) → flower, etc. (with svarabakhti). A diminutive is "Howie" and its shortened form is "Ward" (most common in the 19th century). Between 1900 and 1960, Howard ranked in the U.S. Top 200; between 1960 and 1990, it ranked in the U.S. Top 400; between 1990 and 2004, it ranked in the U.S. Top 600.[3] People with the given name Howard or its variants include:
| Pronunciation | HAO-erd | 
|---|---|
| Gender | Male | 
| Origin | |
| Word/name | Old English, Old Norse | 
| Other names | |
| Related names | Howie, Ward | 
Given name
    
- Howard Allen (1949–2020), American serial killer
 - Howard Duane Allman (1946–1971), American guitar virtuoso
 - Howard Anderson (disambiguation), name of several people
 - Howard Andrew (1934–2021), American poker player
 - Howard Ashman (1950–1991), American lyricist known for Little Shop of Horrors, The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast
 - Howard Baker (disambiguation), name of several people
 - Howard Bragman (1956–2023), American crisis manager and publicist
 - Howard W. Brill (born 1943), chief justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court
 - Howard Burnett (athlete) (born 1961), Jamaican track and field athlete
 - Howard J. Burnett (1929–2019), American president of Washington & Jefferson College
 - Howard Carpendale (born 1946), German singer
 - Howard Carter (disambiguation), name of several people
 - Howard Cosell (1918–1995), sports broadcaster
 - Howard Ward Cunningham (born 1949), American founder of WikiWikiWeb
 - Howard David, American sportscaster
 - Howard Davies (disambiguation), name of several people
 - Howard Davis (disambiguation), name of several people
 - Howard Dean (born 1948), American politician
 - Howard Donald (born 1968), English singer
 - Howard Devoto (born Howard Trafford, 1952), English singer-songwriter
 - Howard Duff (1913–1990), American actor
 - Howard Eastman (born 1970), Guyanese-British boxer
 - Howard Ehmke (1894–1959), American baseball pitcher
 - Howard Eisenberg (born 1926), American author and journalist
 - Howard Eisley (born 1972), American basketball player and coach
 - Howard Engel (1931–2019), Canadian mystery writer
 - Howard Eskin (born 1951), American sports radio personality
 - Howard Evans (disambiguation), name of several people
 - Howard Goodall (born 1958), British musician, musicologist and TV presenter
 - Howard Grant (boxer) (born 1966), Jamaican-Canadian boxer
 - Howard Hawks (1896–1977), American producer
 - Howard Hesseman (1940–2022), American actor
 - Howard Hotson, British historian
 - Howard A. Howe (1901–1976), American virologist
 - Howard Hughes (1905–1976), American aviation pioneer and film mogul
 - Howard Jacobson (born 1942), British novelist and journalist
 - Howard Johnson (disambiguation), name of several people
 - Howard Jones (disambiguation), name of several people
 - Howard Judd (1935–2007), American physician and medical researcher
 - Howard Keel (1919–2004), singer and actor born Harry Keel
 - Howard Kendall, English football player and manager
 - Howard Andrew Knox (1885–1949), American physician
 - Howard Lassoff (1955–2013), American-Israeli basketball player
 - Howard Lederer (born 1964), professional poker player
 - Howard Lesnick (1931–2020), American, Jefferson B. Fordham Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania Law School
 - Howard Long (1905–1939), American convicted murderer
 - H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937), American writer (full name Howard Phillips Lovecraft)
 - Howard Hamilton Mackey (1901–1987), American architect, educator
 - Howard McNear (1905–1969), American radio and television actor
 - Howard Marks (1945–2016), teacher, drug smuggler and author
 - Howard Matthews (1885–1963), English footballer
 - Howard W. Mattson (1927–1998), American chemist and journalist
 - Howard T. Odum (1924–2002), American ecologist
 - Howard Allen O'Brien, birth name of American writer Anne Rice
 - Howard Payne (athlete) (1931–1992), English hammer thrower
 - Howard Schatz, American fine art photographer
 - Howard Shore (born 1946), Canadian composer
 - Howard Smith (disambiguation), name of several people
 - Howard Smothers (born 1973), American football player
 - Howard Spira, American gambler who was paid by George Steinbrenner to find dirt on baseball player Dave Winfield
 - Howard Stableford (born 1959), British television and radio presenter
 - Howard Staunton (1810–1874), British chess player and Shakespearean scholar
 - Howard Stern (born 1954), American talk-radio host
 - Howard K. Stern (born 1968), attorney for Anna Nicole Smith
 - Howard Stidham (born 1954), American football player
 - Howard Stupp (born 1955), Canadian Olympic wrestler
 - Howard Tayler (born 1968), American cartoonist
 - Howard Turner (1897–1976), American football player
 - Howard Unruh (1921–2009), American spree killer
 - Howard Wales (1943–2020), American musician
 - Howard Walker (disambiguation), name of several people
 - Howard Walter (1883–1918), American Congregationalist minister and hymnist
 - Howard Watt (1911–2005), South African rugby union player
 - Howard Watts III (born 1987), American politician
 - Howard Wilkinson (born 1943), English football manager
 - Howard Williams (disambiguation), name of several people
 - Howard Wilson (American football) (born 1995), American football player
 - Howard Wilson (physicist), British physicist
 - Howard Zinn (1922–2010), American historian, academic, author, playwright, and social activist
 
Howie
    
- Howie B (born 1963), Scottish musician and producer Howard Bernstein
 - Howie Carr (born 1952), American journalist
 - Howie Day (born 1981), American singer-songwriter
 - Howie Dorough (born 1973), American musician with Backstreet Boys
 - Howie Epstein (1955–2003), American musician
 - Howie Gordon (later known as Richard Pacheco), American pornographic actor
 - Howie Hawkins, American politician and activist
 - Howie Long (born 1960), American former football player and actor
 - Howie Mandel (born 1955), Canadian comedian and actor, host of the TV show Deal or No Deal
 - Howie Meeker (1923–2020), Canadian hockey player, TV sports announcer, Member of Parliament
 - Howie Morenz (1902–1937), Canadian ice hockey player
 - Howie Nave (born 1956), American comedian, radio personality, writer, promoter and movie critic
 - Howie Rose (born 1954), American sportscaster
 - Howie Severino (born 1961), Filipino broadcast journalist
 - Howie Winter (1929–2020), American mobster
 
Fictional characters
    
- Howard Bellamy (Doctors), in the British soap opera Doctors
 - Howard Clifford, a fictional villain in the Detective Pikachu movie
 - Howard Cunningham (Happy Days), in the TV series Happy Days
 - Howard Hamlin, a fictional character on the AMC television series Better Call Saul
 - Howard Huge, a comic strip dog
 - Howard Hunter, in the TV series Hill Street Blues, played by James B. Sikking
 - Howard Langston, in the 1996 film Jingle All the Way
 - Howard McBride, in the animated series The Loud House
 - Howard McGreggor, in the TV series Fresh Meat (TV series)
 - Howard Moon, in the TV series The Mighty Boosh, portrayed by Julian Barratt
 - Howard Roark, protagonist of Ayn Rand's novel The Fountainhead
 - Howard Stark, father of Tony Stark/Iron Man
 - Howard Wolowitz, a fictional character on the CBS television series The Big Bang Theory, portrayed by actor Simon Helberg.
 - Howard the Duck, a comic book character
 - Howard Link, a "Crow" and Inspector for the Black Order in the anime/manga D. Gray Man
 - Howard Marner, a fictional character from Short Circuit (1986 film)
 - Howard Silk, main character and agent in the TV series Counterpart (TV series)
 - Howard DeVille, in the animated series Rugrats
 
References
    
- "howard". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 2020-11-20.
 - Patrick Hanks and Flavia Hodges: A Dictionary of Surnames. Oxford University Press, 1988.
 - "Howard, name meaning and origin". Think Baby Names. Retrieved 2008-02-12.