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As a first name I dont think it would work at all. However, I know a Walter Harold, and even though he is not a newborn or toddler (he is 24ish), people always look at him with the "what were your parents thinking" face when he mentions his name, especially full name, for the first time. Both Walter and Harold were family names, but I really think it was over-the-top. However, his parents were both old (40+) when they started to have kids, so that may have had a little do to with it too.

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Anyway, I think it if means that much to you, you could get away with it as a mn. I think something a little more modern-classic (Benjamin, William, Joseph - those kind of names or even the trendy ones if thats your style), Howard as a mn would be prefectly fine. William Howard actually kinds of sounds nice.

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Anyway, this is just my opinion. If you truly want to use Howard as a fn, my only suggestion would be to use something a little less "old" as a mn. A combo like Walter Harold was too old back in the early 80s, and it is certainly too old now.