Howard

English

Etymology

Medieval personal name from Old Norse Hávarðr, from hár (“high”) + varðr (“guard”). In some cases a variant of Heward, from Old French Huard.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhaʊɚd/
• IPA^(key): /ˈhaʊəd/
• Hyphenation: How‧ard

Proper noun

Howard (plural Howards)

1. A patronymic surname transferred from the given name
   • 1675 Edward Phillips, Egerton Brydges: Theatrum Poetarum Anglicanorum. page V:

     Henry Howard, the most noble Earl of Surry, who flourishing in the time of King Henry the 8.th, as his name is sufficiently famous for the martial exploits of that family for many generations, so deserves he, had he his due, the particular fame of learning, wit, and poetic fancy

2. A male given name from the Germanic languages, transferred back from the surname. Short form: Howie.
   • 1984 Louise Erdrich, Love Medicine, Bantam Books 1987, →ISBN, page 238,250:

     "King Howard Kashpaw, Junior," said his new teacher. "Which one of those names would you like to be called?"

     He had never thought about it.

     "Howard," he was surprised to hear himself answer. It was that simple. After that he was Howard at school. - - -

     ""He don't call himself Little King anymore," Lynette said from the kitchen. "He thinks his name's Howard."

     "Howard?"

     The boy looked at me and nodded.

     "He won't claim his dad no more," said King, standing in the doorway. "He's too good."

3. A small city, the county seat of Elk County, Kansas, United States.
4. A small city, the county seat of Miner County, South Dakota, United States.
5. Howard University.

Derived terms

• Curry-Howard correspondence
• Howard County
• Howardian, Howardian Hills
• howardite

Translations

surname

• Arabic: هُوَارْد m or f (huwārd)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 霍華德／霍华德 (zh) (Huòhuádé), 霍华德 (zh) (Huòhuádé)

• Irish: Ní hÍomhair
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: ホワード (Howādo), ハワード (Hawādo)
• Korean: 하워드 (Hawodeu)
• Russian: Го́вард m or f (Góvard), Ха́уард m or f (Xáuard), Хо́вард (ru) m or f (Xóvard)

male given name

• Japanese: ホワード (Howādo), ハワード (Hawādo)
• Norwegian: Håvard (no)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: Го́вард m (Góvard), Ха́уард m (Xáuard), Хо́вард (ru) m (Xóvard)
• Spanish: Hugardo m

Statistics

• According to the 2010 United States Census, Howard is the 75^th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 264,826 individuals. Howard is most common among White (64.31%) and Black (29.49%) individuals.