Hepburn

Spellings & scripts●(measured from records)

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records, and ○ marks a model's transliteration; click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●(measured from records)

Attested in 1 language in the etymology graph.

Other recorded senses●(measured from records)

Hepburn is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, from Hepburn (Northumberland) or Hebburn (Durham); first attested Adam de Hepburne 1271 Black

  as a name·A Dictionary of English Surnames

• habitational name from Hebron, or Hebbum in County Durham, so named from Old English heah ‘high’ + byrgen ‘burial mound’, ‘tumulus’.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• In English, Katharine. US actress: pers. name

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

• In English, Audrey, Belgian-born actress;

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

• In Croatian, 1. Audrey (1929—1993), američka filmska glumica ( Praznik u Rimu , Ljubav poslije podne , Doručak kod Tiffanyja) 2. Katharine (1909), američka kazališna i filmska karakterna glumica, duhovita interpretkinja blago ekscentričnih likova ( Afrička kraljica , Iznenada prošlog ljeta , Zima jednog lava , Zlatno jezero ); zvijezda punih 70 godina

  as a word·Hrvatski jezični portal (HJP) dictionary export

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Notable people with this name●(measured from records)

• James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwellb. 1534GB1st Duke of Orkney and third and final husband of Mary, Queen of Scots (lived 1534-1578)
• James Curtis Hepburnb. 1815USAmerican physician, educator, and phonologist of Japanese (1815–1911)
• William Peters Hepburnb. 1833USAmerican politician (1833–1916)
• A. Barton Hepburnb. 1846USAmerican banker and politician (1846–1922)
• Katharine Martha Houghton Hepburnb. 1878USAmerican suffragist (1878-1951)
• Mitchell Hepburnb. 1896CACanadian politician (1896-1953)
• Katharine Hepburnb. 1907USAmerican actress (1907–2003)
• Audrey Hepburnb. 1929GBBritish actress (1929–1993)
• Stephen Hepburnb. 1959GBBritish politician (born 1959)
• Michael Hepburnb. 1991AUAustralian racing cyclist

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

How to address them○(machine-generated)

Evidence●(measured from records)

Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.

Frequently asked questions

What does the name Hepburn mean, and where does it come from?

Person from Hepburn, Northumberland (‘high burial place’). Recorded by Encyclopedia of surnames [the complete companion to tracing your names history].

How do you pronounce Hepburn?

A machine transcription gives /ˈhɛpbɝn/ (IPA) for English.

In which country does Hepburn have the most bearers?

In the United States, the national register counted about 3.5 thousand people named Hepburn, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled hepburn.

Where is Hepburn most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Hepburn is densest in St. Vincent & Grenadines — about 1 in 1.4 thousand people — even though United States holds more of our records for it.

How common is the name Hepburn?

In the United States, the national register counted 3,479 people named Hepburn in 2010, about 1 in 96 thousand residents.