Ferdinand

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 7 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Ferdinand is also recorded as 5 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish given name66K records spelled Ferdinand4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Philippines, United States, Brazil, Peru

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese

  Also written Fęrdįnånd, Ferdinánd

• Czech given name27K records spelled Ferdinand35 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Czechia, Russia, Philippines, Croatia

  Languages: Czech, Russian, Croatian

  Also written Фердинанд, Фердінанд, Ferdynand, Ferdinan, Фердынанд

• Indonesian given name20K records spelled Ferdinand5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, Philippines, United States, Malaysia

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written 'Ferdinand, Fḕrdînãñd, Ferdinänd

• a separate given name5.9K records spelled Ferdinand3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, India, United Kingdom, Netherlands

  Also written Ferdinánd, Fèrdinand

• Albanian given name3.0K records spelled Ferdinand2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Albania, United States, Philippines, Italy

  Also written Fërdinand

94 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Ferdinand 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, Germanic name meaning ‘journey risk’; used in Ireland to anglicise Farry, Fardoragh, Fergananym, and Fergus.

  as a name·Irish first names

• In French, From Germanic fardi ‘journey’ + nand ‘bold’

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

• In German, Spanish given name, originally West Gothic; perhaps from Herinand or Fredenand

  as a name·Deutsche Namenkunde: Unsere Familiennamen nach ihrer Entstehung und Bedeutung

• In English, prepared for the journey; adventurer or traveller.

  as a name·Baby names, 25,350 baby names nicknames for your family, friends pets, including the top 100 names, 2,000 most popular…

• $ Traditional name among the Habsburgs, of Visigothic (Spanish) origin: see main dictionary.

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

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.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperorb. 1503ESemperador del SIR de 1556 a 1564
• Ferdinand IIb. 1578ATHoly Roman Emperor
• Ferdinand IIIb. 1608ATEmperor of the Holy Roman Empire (1608-1657)
• Ferdinand Ib. 1793ATAustrian emperor, king of Hungary and Bohemia (1793-1875)
• Ferdinand Fochb. 1851FRFrench marchal and military theorist (1851–1929)
• Ferdinand de Saussureb. 1857CHSwiss linguist and philosopher (1857–1913)
• Ferdinand E. E. Marcosb. 1917PHPresident of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986
• Kareem Abdul-Jabbarb. 1947USnot in their usual nameAmerican basketball player (born 1947)
• William Alexander of the Netherlandsb. 1967NLnot in their usual nameKing of the Netherlands (born 1967)
• Rafael van der Vaartb. 1983NLnot in their usual nameDutch association football player (born 1983)

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).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 895 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Ferdinand?

We estimate roughly 32 thousand people bear Ferdinand (counting its spellings and scripts) across 12 countries in our records.

In which country does Ferdinand have the most bearers?

Ferdinand is most frequently recorded in the Netherlands, where it is most often spelled ferdinand.

How common is Ferdinand compared with other names?

In the Netherlands, Ferdinand is the 286th most common given name of 134,847 given names recorded there.

Is Ferdinand a male or female name?

Ferdinand is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Ferdinand mean?

Recorded meaning: from a Spanish personal name of Germanic origin, probably ‘brave journey’