# Frederick (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/frederick/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys |
| Origin | German |
| Meaning | “peace”, “king”, “ruler”, “peace king”, “peaceful ruler” |
| Pronunciation | /ˈfɹɛd(ə)ɹɪk/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | Freddie, Freddy |
| Variant spellings | Frederic, Erick, Fredrick |
| US babies named this | 267,165 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 266,060 / 1,105 (0% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 20,820, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

From German Friedrich, Friederich and influenced by Latin Friderīcus, Frederīcus, from Old High German Fridurih, from Frankish *Friþurīk, from Proto-Germanic *Friþurīks, from *friþuz (“peace”) + *rīks (“king, ruler”), literally “peace king, peaceful ruler”.

## What it means

Frederick is grouped under king and peace.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1979 | 15 | 4,688 |
| 1980 | 12 | 5,635 |
| 1981 | 13 | 5,356 |
| 1982 | 12 | 5,651 |
| 1983 | 14 | 4,956 |
| 1984 | 17 | 4,381 |
| 1985 | 8 | 7,803 |
| 1986 | 15 | 5,033 |
| 1987 | 14 | 5,390 |
| 1988 | 12 | 6,398 |
| 1989 | 9 | 8,256 |
| 1990 | 5 | 13,688 |
| 1991 | 5 | 13,880 |
| 1992 | 5 | 14,001 |
| 1993 | 5 | 14,232 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 472 | 541 |
| 2012 | 488 | 535 |
| 2013 | 556 | 492 |
| 2014 | 567 | 496 |
| 2015 | 558 | 515 |
| 2016 | 583 | 512 |
| 2017 | 581 | 500 |
| 2018 | 575 | 499 |
| 2019 | 615 | 476 |
| 2020 | 613 | 484 |
| 2021 | 629 | 476 |
| 2022 | 648 | 478 |
| 2023 | 596 | 507 |
| 2024 | 747 | 422 |
| 2025 | 728 | 435 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 669 | 96 |
| 2012 | 733 | 87 |
| 2013 | 766 | 82 |
| 2014 | 815 | 81 |
| 2015 | 875 | 76 |
| 2016 | 874 | 76 |
| 2017 | 879 | 72 |
| 2018 | 1,010 | 65 |
| 2019 | 983 | 65 |
| 2020 | 952 | 63 |
| 2021 | 1,017 | 61 |
| 2022 | 886 | 65 |
| 2023 | 866 | 63 |
| 2024 | 964 | 55 |
| 2025 | 954 | 52 |

## In other languages

- Arabic: فريدرش
- Armenian: Ֆրիդրիխ
- Bulgarian: Фри́дрих, Фре́дерик
- Catalan: Frederic
- Chinese: 弗雷德里克, 腓特烈
- Czech: Bedřich
- Danish: Frederik
- Dutch: Frederik
- Esperanto: Frederiko
- Estonian: Priit
- Finnish: Veeti
- French: Frédéric
- German: Friedrich, Friederich
- Greek: Φρειδερίκος, Φρήντριχ
- Hebrew: פרידריך
- Hungarian: Frigyes
- Icelandic: Friðrik
- Irish: Feardorcha
- Italian: Federico, Federigo, Fedrico
- Japanese: フレデリック

## People named Frederick

- Frederick Douglass, African-American social reformer, writer, and abolitionist (c. 1818–1895)
- John Frederick William Herschel, English polymath, mathematician, astronomer, chemist, inventor and photographer (1792–1871
- Frederick Sanger, British biochemist (1918–2013)
- Frederick Soddy, English radiochemist (1877–1956)
- Frederick Banting, Canadian medical scientist and doctor (1891-1941)
- Frederick Reines, American physicist (1918–1998)
- Frederick Hopkins, English biochemist
- Frederick Winslow Taylor, American mechanical engineer (1856–1915)
- Frederick Chapman Robbins, American doctor
- Frederick Forsyth, English novelist (1938–2025)
- Frederick Chiluba, former President of Zambia (1991–2002)
- Frederick Ashton, British dancer and choreographer (1904–1988)

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.