Howard is an English language, English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (disambiguation), 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". In Anglo-Norman language, 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. 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 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 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 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 (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 (film), Detective Pikachu'' movie * Howard Cunningham (Happy Days), in the ''Happy Days'' TV series * 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 Iron Man Tony Stark * 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 D. Gray Man Anime/Manga * 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

{{given name English masculine given names Given names originating from a surname