# Freedman (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/freedman/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A German and Jewish surname from German.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | German |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 8,913 |
| US rank (2010) | 3,985 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 34,640 people |
| Change since 2000 | -0.1% (8,926 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

* Anglicization of German Friedmann * Corruption of Friedman * freed + man. A surname taken up by freed slaves.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Freedman in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 95% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 1.2% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.2% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.8% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.1% |
| Two or more races | 0.9% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Freedman in the United States.

## People named Freedman

- Michael Freedman, American mathematician
- Benjamin Harrison Freedman, American businessman (1890-1984)
- Daniel Z. Freedman, American physicist
- Stuart J. Freedman, American physicist (1944-2012)
- David Noel Freedman, American biblical scholar, author, editor, archaeologist (1922-2008)

## Similar surnames

Friedman, Friedmann, Fridman, Fortner, Fortune, Fortin, Fortenberry, Fortney, Fordham, Fortunato, Fortuna, Farthing.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.