Howard

Howard
PronunciationHAO-erd
GenderMale
Origin
Word/nameOld English, Old Norse
Other names
Related namesHowie, Ward

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 tourtower, 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:

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 Y T Cheng (born 1981), champion apprentice in Hong Kong
  • 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 Smalley (born 1942), New Zealand cricketer
  • 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 Washington (born 1998), American-Canadian basketball player
  • 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 DeVille, in the animated series Rugrats
  • 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 Nichols, a character in the 1981 American made-for-television movie Fallen Angel
  • 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)

References

  1. ^ "howard". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 2020-11-20.
  2. ^ Patrick Hanks and Flavia Hodges: A Dictionary of Surnames. Oxford University Press, 1988.
  3. ^ "Howard, name meaning and origin". Think Baby Names. Retrieved 2008-02-12.
Name list
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