Fred

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Freddy in VE Venezuela, PE Peru, EC Ecuador and 8 more and פרדי in FR France, IL Israel.

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

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 15 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◐

Fred is also recorded as 6 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Portuguese given name279K records spelled Fred6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Brazil, United States, Mexico, Colombia

  Languages: Portuguese, Spanish, Italian

  Also written Fréd

• French given name136K records spelled Fred6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, United States, Guadeloupe, Canada

  Also written Fréd, Frèd, Fred', Frëd

• a separate given name63K records spelled Fred2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Italy

  Also written Fréd

• Greek given name6.2K records spelled Fred5 spellings in the group

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

  Also written Φρεντ, Fréd, Φρεδ, Frent

• Indonesian given name5.8K records spelled Fred4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Indonesia, Philippines, Netherlands

  Also written Fřëd, Fřëď, Fréd

• a separate given name3.7K records spelled Fred5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Norway, Canada, United Kingdom

  Also written Frēd, Fréd, Fŕêd, Frëd

76 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●

Fred 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 French, Short form of Frédéric or Fred; Germanic 'peace ruler'.

  as a name·Dictionnaire généalogique des prénoms

• Short form of Frederick or, occasionally, of pAlfred. Pet forms: Freddie, Freddy.

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• In English, A short version of Frederick, Alfred, or Wilfred, also used as a formal male given name.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Swedish, Fred är ursprungligen en engelsk smekform till → Fredrik. Namnet Fred har också associerats med ordet fred. En känd namnbärare var den amerikanske sångaren och skådespelaren Fred (egentligen Frederick) Astaire (1899–1987). I den finlandssvenska almanackan 18 juli.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

• English: short form of FREDERICK or, occasionally, of ALFRED . It has also been used as an independent given name (cf. BERT ). Pet forms: Freddie, Freddy .

  as a word

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●

• Fred Zinnemannb. 1907ATAustrian film director (1907-1997)
• Fred Grahamb. 1908USAmerican actor (1908-1979)
• Fred Hoyleb. 1915GBBritish astronomer (1915–2001)
• Fred Rogersb. 1928USAmerican television personality (1928–2003)
• Richard Heckb. 1931USnot in their usual nameAmerican chemist (1931–2015)
• Fred Williamsonb. 1938USAmerican football player and actor
• Fred Hamptonb. 1948USAfrican-American activist (1948-1969)
• Fred Armisenb. 1966USAmerican comedian, actor and musician
• Fred Durstb. 1970USAmerican singer, rapper, actor and director (born 1970)
• Michael Phelpsb. 1985USnot in their usual nameAmerican swimmer (born 1985)

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 · 1,090 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Fred?

We estimate roughly 199 thousand people bear Fred (counting its spellings and scripts) across 11 countries in our records.

In which country does Fred have the most bearers?

Fred is most frequently recorded in Venezuela, where it is most often spelled freddy.

Where is Fred most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Fred is densest in Ecuador — about 1 in 373 people — even though Venezuela holds more of our records for it.

How common is Fred compared with other names?

In Venezuela, Fred is the 67th most common given name of 213,120 given names recorded there.

Is Fred a male or female name?

Fred 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 Fred mean?

Recorded meaning: Short form of Frédéric, from Germanic frid + ric, 'peace' + 'power'.