Origin
Shepherd : 1: English (Lancashire and Yorkshire): occupational name from Middle English schepeherde ‘shepherd’ (Old English scēaphyrde scēap‐weard).2: Americanized form (translation into English) of surnames meaning ‘shepherd’ for example German and Jewish Schäfer (see Schaefer).
Accomando : Italian (Sicily): from medieval Latin arcumannus ‘German shepherd (dog)’ presumably a metonymic occupational name for a shepherd or possibly a nickname for someone thought to resemble this breed of dog.
Amarante : 1: Italian (Campania): from an early Christian female personal name Greek Amaranthē ‘unfading’ bestowed with reference to the adjective amarantos (conflated with anthos ‘flower’ to give the -anth ending) as used in I Peter 5:4: ‘And when the chief shepherd shall appear ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away’.2: Portuguese and Galician: habitational name from any of the places so called in northern Portugal and Galicia from Latin (villa) Amaranti from the Latin personal name Amarant(h)us (‘amaranth’).
Bacak : 1: Croatian (Bačak) and Slovak (Bačák): occupational name for a senior shepherd from an augmentative of Croatian bač(a) Slovak bača ‘senior shepherd’ (see Baca).2: Slovak (Bacák): derivative of bacať ‘to spank to smack’.3: Turkish: nickname from bacak ‘leg thigh’.
Bachan : 1: Altered form of French Bachand.2: Czech Slovak and Polish: derivative of the personal name Bach 5.3: Americanized form of Croatian Bačan and Baćan: occupational name for a senior shepherd from an augmentative of bač(a) (see Baca 2) or a nickname or a relationship name from baćan a pet name meaning ‘(little) brother’.4: Indian: variant of Bachchan from Hindi bachcha ‘child’ Sanskrit bačča. This is not a traditional Indian surname but rather a pseudonym adopted as a surname by members of castes ranked lower in the varna system. It is also common in Trinidad and Tobago.
Baran : 1: Polish Slovak Czech Sorbian Russian Ukrainian Rusyn Croatian and Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): nickname from Slavic baran ‘ram’ presumably borne by either a forceful lusty man or else by a shepherd. As a Jewish surname it is artificial. Compare Barran.2: Croatian: from a pet form of the personal name Bartolomej (see Bartholomew) and its vernacular variants or short forms Bartol Bartul and Bare.
Barany : Hungarian (Bárány): from bárány ‘lamb’ hence a metonymic occupational name for a shepherd or a nickname for someone thought to resemble a lamb in some way. The surname Bárány is also found in Slovakia where it is also spelled Barány and Bárany. Compare Barno.
Barca : 1: Spanish and Italian: from barca ‘boat small boat’ (from Latin barca) hence a metonymic occupational name for a sailor a shipbuilder or the owner of a boat.2: Spanish and Portuguese: habitational name from any of various places called with this word which is probably of pre-Roman origin.3: Hungarian: habitational name from a place called Barca in Borsod County. In some cases the surname could be a derivative of the personal name Bertalan Hungarian form of Bartholomew.4: Romanian (Bârcă): nickname from bârcă ‘curly fleeced sheep’ hence probably a metonymic occupational name for a shepherd or a nickname for someone with curly hair.
Barker : 1: English: occupational name for a tanner of leather from Middle English barkere ‘tanner’ tree bark having been used as the tanning agent.2: English: occupational name for a shepherd from Middle English berker bercher (Old French berchier bercher berkier berker Late Latin berbicarius from berbex ‘ram’ genitive berbicis). With the change of -ar- to -er- in Middle English this became indistinguishable from the preceding name (see 1 above).3: Americanized form of German Berger or Barger.
Bellars : English (Northamptonshire):: 1: (of Norman origin): apparently from Old French bélier ‘ram’ hence a nickname for someone thought to resemble a ram in some way or possibly a metonymic occupational name for a shepherd. In Northamptonshire the name attracts excrescent -s already by 1377.2: possibly also a variant of Beller with post-medieval excrescent -s.
Both : 1: North German and Dutch: variant of Bothe.2: Hungarian: variant of Bot from the old personal name Bot or from the vocabulary word bot ‘stick’ probably applied as a metonymic occupational name for a shepherd or a village guard. This surname is also found in Slovakia.
Caban : 1: Catalan and French: topographic name from the masculine form of cabana ‘cabin hut’ (see Cabana). This surname is most common in Puerto Rico.2: Polish and Slovak: nickname from caban ‘young unmarried man’. This surname is also found in Czechia.3: Rusyn (from Slovakia; Čaban): occupational name for shepherd from Rusyn chaban (see Chaban).4: Filipino: metonymic occupational name from a Hispanicized form of Tagalog kaban the name of a measurement used for grains.
Cabra : 1: Spanish: habitational name from a place called Cabra either of pre-Roman origin (Cabra in Córdoba) or from cabra ‘goat’.3: Italian: from Sardinian cabra ‘goat’ possibly a metonymic occupational name denoting a shepherd or a nickname for someone that resembled the animal in some way.4: Slovak (Čabra): nickname from čabrať sa ‘to splash about/around to dabble’.2: Spanish: nickname from cabra ‘goat’ (compare 3 below) figuratively ‘mestizo’.
Capoccia : Italian (southern): from a diminutive of capo ‘head’ (see Capo) applied as an occupational name for a farm overseer chief shepherd or herdsman or occasionally perhaps for the head of a family particularly in an immigrant community.
Chaban : 1: Ukrainian and Rusyn: occupational name for shepherd from Ukrainian chaban a word of Turkish origin (see Coban).2: Americanized form of Polish and Rusyn (from Poland) Czaban or Rusyn (from Slovakia) Čaban (see Caban 4) cognates of 1.
Choban : 1: Ukrainian (of Romanian/Moldovan origin): occupational name for shepherd from Romanian cioban (see Ciobanu).2: In some cases also an Americanized form of Croatian Czech or Slovak Čoban (see Coban).
Cordeiro : Portuguese and Galician: from cordeiro ‘young lamb’ (from Latin cordarius a derivative of cordus ‘young new’) hence a nickname for a meek and inoffensive person or a metonymic occupational name for a shepherd.
Cordero : Spanish:: 1: from cordero ‘young lamb’ (from Latin cordarius a derivative of cordus ‘young new’) hence a metonymic occupational name for a shepherd or alternatively a nickname meaning ‘lamb’.2: possibly also an occupational name for a cordmaker derived from corda ‘rope’.
Czaban : Polish and Rusyn (from Poland): occupational name for shepherd from Polish czaban Rusyn chaban a word of Turkish origin (see Coban). Compare Chaban.
Flock : 1: English: variant of Flook or a variant of Folk (see Foulk) with metathesis of l.2: English: from Middle English flok ‘lock of wool’ (Old French floc) perhaps for someone who worked with wool or for someone with hair resembling wool. Alternatively it may be a metonymic occupational name derived from Middle English flok ‘flock (of sheep)’ (Old English flocc) for a shepherd.3: Scottish: perhaps a shortened form of the surname Flucker (earlier Floker) denoting a fisherman.4: German: from Middle High German Middle Low German vlocke ‘flake snow flake lock of wool’ perhaps a metonymic occupational name for a worker in the wool industry (compare 2 above).5: German (Flöck): variant of Flück (see Fluck) or from a pet form of a personal name formed with Old Saxon flōd ‘flood’.
Geigel : 1: South German: metonymic occupational name for a fiddler from a diminutive of Middle High German gīge ‘fiddle violin’. See Geiger.2: Austrian (Tyrol): from dialect gīgal ‘sheep’ probably a nickname for a shepherd.
Gregory : English (of Norman origin) and French: from a personal name that was popular throughout Christendom in the Middle Ages. The Greek original Grēgorios is a derivative of grēgorein ‘to be awake to be watchful’. However the Latin form Gregorius came to be associated by folk etymology with grex gregis ‘flock herd’ under the influence of the Christian image of the good shepherd. The Greek name was borne in the early Christian centuries by two fathers of the Orthodox Church Saint Gregory Nazianzene (c. 325–390) and Saint Gregory of Nyssa (c. 331–395) and later by sixteen popes starting with Gregory the Great (c. 540–604). It was also the name of 3rd- and 4th-century apostles of Armenia. In North America the English form of the surname has absorbed many cognates from other languages e.g. Italian Gregorio German Slovak and Slovenian Gregor Polish Grzegorz Czech Řehoř (see Rehor) and French Gregoire and also their patronymics and other derivatives e.g. Polish Grzegorczyk.
Groom : English: occupational name for a servant or a shepherd from Middle English grōm(e) ‘boy servant’ (of uncertain origin) which in some places was specialized to mean ‘shepherd’.
Hamel : 1: English Scottish and Irish (Louth): variant of Hamill.2: French: topographic name for someone who lived and worked at an outlying farm dependent on the main village Old French hamel (a diminutive from an ancient Germanic element cognate with Old English hām ‘homestead’); or a habitational name from (Le) Hamel the name of several places in the northern part of France named with this word. Compare Duhamel and also Amell.3: German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): habitational name from the city of Hamlin German Hameln Yiddish Haml where the Hamel river empties into the Weser. The name of the river probably derives from the ancient Germanic element ham ‘water meadow’.4: Dutch: metonymic occupational name for a shepherd from Middle Dutch hamel ‘wether castrated ram’.
Harder : 1: English: occupational name from an agent noun derived from Middle English hardenen ‘to make hard’ (Old English heardian) denoting a hardener of metals (used by Chaucer) and elsewhere a baker who hardened dough with heat.2: North German and Danish: from the ancient Germanic personal name Harther composed of the elements hard ‘strong hard’+ heri ‘army’.3: South German: topographic name from Middle High German hart ‘woodland used as pasture’ or a habitational name for someone from any of the places called with this word.4: Dutch: vowel variant of Herder an occupational name for a shepherd.
Heatwole : Americanized form of German Hüthwohl possibly a nickname for a good shepherd or guard from Middle High German hüet (imperative of hüeten ‘to guard’) + wol ‘well’.
Hine : 1: English (Devon): occupational name from Middle English Old English hīne ‘servant member of a household’ also ‘farm laborer’ (such as a herdsman or shepherd). Originally a collective term for a body of servants from an Old English plural noun hīwan ‘household’ in early modern English it commonly acquired excrescent -d (see Hinde). Evidence from Nottinghamshire shows that some bearers of the name were wealthy freemen which suggests that their eponymous ancestors were not farmhands but senior members of a lord's household. From the late 15th century onward in western England from south to north a hine or hind also denoted a farm steward or manager a sense that may be relevant to the surname in northwestern England where hereditary naming had not been fully established by the 16th century.2: Americanized form of German Hein.
Hogg : 1: English (northern England and Scotland): nickname for a swineherd or shepherd from Middle English hog(ge) (Old English hogg) denoting either a pig especially a castrated one or a young sheep before its first shearing (the latter sense is most likely in northern England).2: German (Högg): topographic name a variant of Heck 1 found chiefly in Bavaria.
Houlette : French:: 1: habitational name from (Les) Houlettes the name of several places mainly in Normandy named with a diminutive of Old French houle ‘hole hollow’.2: possibly also a nickname for a shepherd from houlette ‘crook a shepherd's staff’.
Juhas : 1: Slovak and Rusyn (from Slovakia) (mainly Juhás) Czech (also Juhás) Serbian Croatian and Rusyn (Vojvodina in Serbia and from Croatia): from a Slavicized form (in Slovak from the loanword juhás) of the Hungarian occupational name for a shepherd juhász or of the surname Juhász (see Juhasz). Compare Yuhas.2: Americanized form of Hungarian Juhász (see Juhasz).3: Czech (also Juhás): from a derivative of the personal name Juha which is from German Johann.
Juhasz : Hungarian (Juhász): occupational name for a shepherd from juh ‘sheep’ + the occupational suffix -ász. Compare Juhas Yuhas and Yuhasz.
Kos : 1: Polish Slovenian Croatian Serbian Czech and Slovak; Sorbian (Kós): nickname from kos (Sorbian kós) ‘blackbird’ denoting someone thought to resemble the bird in some way for example someone with a good singing voice. The Sorbian surname is found mainly in Germanized forms Koss and Kuss. Compare also Cos and Coss.2: Czech Slovak and Croatian (Koš): metonymic occupational name for a basketmaker from koš ‘basket’. The Sorbian cognates Kóš (Lower Sorbian) and Koš (Upper Sorbian) are found in Germanized or Americanized forms only (see Kosch and Kosh).3: Jewish (Ashkenazic): probably an artificial name from Slavic kos ‘blackbird’ as in 1; alternatively from Hebrew kos ‘drinking glass’ or Yiddish kos ‘goblet cup’ probably applied as a metonymic occupational name for someone who made glasses or cups.4: Dutch: from a pet form of the personal name Constantius (see Constant).5: Hungarian (Kós): from kos ‘ram’ a loanword from Ottoman Turkish qoç (compare Koc); perhaps a metonymic occupational name for a shepherd but more probably a nickname for someone thought to resemble the animal.
Lemmerman : Americanized form of German Lemmermann:: 1: from a pet form of the personal name Lemmer.2: probably also an occupational name for a shepherd from Middle High German lember ‘lambs’ + man ‘man’.
Looker : English: variant of Luker an occupational name for one who looks after something such as a shepherd or farm bailiff.
Mannarino : Italian (mainly Calabria): from a word denoting a pig born and raised in a stall; it can also mean a sheepfold and may even be derived from lupo mannaro ‘werewolf’. These meanings mostly suggest nicknames e.g. in the case of the sheepfold for a shepherd.
Oven : 1: Slovenian: from oven ‘ram’ probably used as a metonymic occupational name for a shepherd or as a nickname for someone thought to resemble the animal in some way.2: English: topographic name or metonymic occupational name from Middle English atte(n) ovene ‘at the oven (or furnace)’. The ‘oven’ in question was probably a furnace for making charcoal or for smelting iron.
Pastor : 1: English French Portuguese Galician Spanish and Catalan: occupational name for a shepherd Anglo-Norman French pastre (oblique case pastour) Old French Portuguese Galician Spanish and Catalan pastor ‘shepherd’ from Latin pastor an agent derivative of pascere ‘to graze’. The religious sense of a spiritual leader was rare in the Middle Ages; it is unlikely therefore that this sense lies behind any examples of the surname.2: German and Dutch: humanistic surname a translation into Latin of German Schäfer (see Schafer) or any other surname meaning ‘shepherd’. Compare astorius">Pastorius.3: Americanized form of Hungarian Pásztor: occupational name from pásztor ‘shepherd’.
Ramler : German: variant of Rammler an occupational name for a shepherd or nickname for a lusty man from Middle High German rammler ‘ram (in the breeding season)’.
Schaap : Dutch and North German: from Middle Low German Dutch schāp ‘sheep’ hence a metonymic occupational name for a shepherd a nickname for someone thought to resemble a sheep in some way or a topographic or habitational name referring to a house distinguished by the sign of a sheep. Compare Schaaf.
Schaefer : 1: German and Jewish (Ashkenazic) (Schäfer): occupational name for a shepherd from an agent derivative of German Schaf Middle High German schāf ‘sheep’. The surname Schäfer is also found in Hungary and Czechia. Compare Schafer and Schaffer 2.2: Dutch: of German origin (see 1 above). Compare Schaefers.
Schauf : German:: 1: (Swabia): metonymic occupational name for a shepherd from a Swabian dialect word meaning ‘sheep’.2: variant of Schaub. Compare Shauf.
Schepker : North German: occupational name for a shepherd from Middle Low German schēp ‘sheep’ + agent suffix -(k)er.
Schoepp : 2: In some cases possibly also Dutch: nickname or metonymic occupational name for a shepherd from the Limburg dialect word shoepp ‘sheep’. This surname is very rare in the Netherlands.1: North German (Schöpp): occupational name for a juryman Middle Low German schepe schepen(e). Compare Schopp.
Schoffstall : Altered form of German Schafstall probably a metonymic occupational name for a shepherd or a maker of hurdles from Middle High German schāf ‘sheep’ + stall ‘stall pen’.
Scripps : English (Hertfordshire):: 1: nickname from Middle English scrip(pe) ‘small bag wallet satchel’ (Old French escharpe) especially one carried by a pilgrim shepherd or beggar used for someone who made sold or carried such items.2: variant of Cripps with inorganic initial S-.
Sheep : from Middle English shep ‘sheep’ (Old English scēap) for a shepherd or a dealer in sheep or for a man with sheep-like characteristics.
Sheffler : 1: Jewish (Ashkenazic): perhaps an occupational name for a shepherd from Yiddish shof German Schaf ‘sheep’ + the agent suffix -ler.2: Americanized form of German Scheffler.
Shipman : 1: English: occupational name for a boatman or mariner or perhaps for a boatbuilder from Middle English schipman ‘ship man’.2: English: occupational name for a shepherd from Middle English schep ship ‘sheep’ + -man.3: Americanized form (translation into English) of Dutch Schepman or of its already extinct variant Schipman cognates of 1 above.
Stehr : German: from Middle High German stēr ‘ram’ hence probably a nickname for a lusty person or possibly a metonymic occupational name for a shepherd.
Turmel : French:: 2: habitational name from (Le) Turmel the name of a few places in the northwestern part of France.1: from a derivative of Old French turme ‘troop band; herd or flock of animals’ probably an occupational name for a shepherd.
Valach : Slovak and Czech (Moravian): occupational name from valach ‘shepherd’ or ethnic name from Valach denoting a Wallachian a member of a Carpathian shepherd people including an inhabitant of Moravian Wallachia (Moravské Valašsko) a region in Moravia. The name Valach is of the same Old Slavic origin as Vlach. Compare Wallach 2 see also Greek Vlachos.
Vanderstelt : Dutch (Van der Stelt): topographic name for someone who lived by a stelt an artificial bank constructed on the outside of a dike to give temporary protection to a shepherd and his flock against high tides or inclement weather.
Verga : 1: Italian and Greek: from verga ‘stick cane shepherd's crook flail’ perhaps applied as a metonymic occupational name for a shepherd or a nickname for a tall thin person.2: American shortened form (and Greek feminine form denoting ‘the daughter or wife of’) of Greek Vergas a cognate of 1 above.
Weatherhead : English (northern): occupational name for a shepherd from an altered form of Middle English wetherherde ‘shepherd’ (from wether ‘sheep’ + herde ‘herder person who looks after animals’).
Weatherman : 1: English (Cheshire): occupational name for a shepherd in particular one who castrated rams from Middle English wether ‘wether castrated ram’ + man ‘man’. This surname is now rare in Britain.2: Americanized form of German Wettermann (see Wetterman).
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Source : DAFN2 : Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, ©2022 by Patrick Hanks and Oxford University Press
FANBI : The Oxford Dictionary if Family Names in Britain and Ireland, ©2016, University of the West of England
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