Table of contents
Boy name origins & meanings
- English : Protector of the home
How Popular Is The Name Howard
Family name origins & meanings
- English : from the Norman personal name Huard, Heward, composed of the Germanic elements hug ‘heart’, ‘mind’, ‘spirit’ + hard ‘hardy’, ‘brave’, ‘strong’.
- English : from the Anglo-Scandinavian personal name Hāward, composed of the Old Norse elements há ‘high’ + varðr ‘guardian’, ‘warden’.
- English : variant of Ewart 2.
- Irish : see Fogarty.
- Irish (County Clare) surname adopted as an equivalent of Gaelic Ó hÍomhair, which was formerly Anglicized as O’Hure.
- The house of Howard, the leading family of the English Roman Catholic nobility, was founded by Sir William Howard or Haward of Norfolk (d. 1308). The family acquired the dukedom of Norfolk by marriage. The first duke of Norfolk of the Howard line was created earl marshal of England by Richard III in 1483, and this office has been held by his succeeding male heirs to the present day. They also hold the earldoms of Suffolk, Berkshire, Carlisle, and Effingham. Henry VIII’s fifth queen, Catherine Howard (?1520–42), was a niece of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk. American Howards include the father and son John Eager Howard and Benjamin Chew Howard of Baltimore, MD, both MD politicians.