Friedrich

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Frederick in US United States, GB United Kingdom, CA Canada and 11 more, Frederic in FR France, BE Belgium, ES Spain and 6 more, Frederik in DK Denmark, SE Sweden, NO Norway and 1 more and Frederique in NL Netherlands.

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 19 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◐

Friedrich is also recorded as 3 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• English given name65K records spelled Friedrich3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Netherlands, South Africa, Australia

  Also written Frièdrich, Frïedrich

• Portuguese given name29K records spelled Friedrich5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Brazil, United States, Argentina, Spain

  Languages: Portuguese, Spanish

  Also written Friëdrich, Friédrich

• a separate given name7.2K records spelled Friedrich3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Switzerland, Russia, Estonia

  Also written Fried-Rich

80 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●

Friedrich 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 German, from Germanic *fridu- 'peace' + *rīhhi- 'power, ruler'

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

• In French, German form of Frédéric, Germanic 'peace ruler'.

  as a name·Dictionnaire généalogique des prénoms

• In German, German surname from the personal name Friedrich; page demonstrates the fugenvokal e in the name and its later vowel/Latin variants.

  as a name·Deutscher Familiennamenatlas, Band 1: Graphematik/Phonologie der Familiennamen I, Vokalismus

• In German, Linking-vowel variation in surnames from personal names Dietrich/Friedrich/Emrich/Ludwig/Mangold.

  as a name·Deutscher Familiennamenatlas, Band 1: Graphematik/Phonologie der Familiennamen I, Vokalismus

• $ Germanic: ‘peace ruler’; a royal and imperial name from an early date. Also: Friederich.

  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) — 64 years between 1914–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Friedrich IIb. 1194ITKing of Sicily, Holy Roman Emperor (1194–1250, 1220–1250)
• Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperorb. 1415ATnot in their usual nameHoly Roman Emperor and Austrian archduke and duke (1452–1493)
• Friedrich Schillerb. 1759DEGerman playwright, poet, philosopher and historian (1759–1805)
• Friedrich Schlegelb. 1772DEGerman poet, critic and scholar, editor
• Leopold I of Belgiumb. 1790BEnot in their usual nameGerman prince who became the first King of the Belgians (1790–1865)
• Wilhelm Ib. 1797DEnot in their usual name19th-century German Emperor and King of Prussia (1797–1888)
• Wilhelm Ostwaldb. 1853DEnot in their usual nameBaltic German chemist (1853–1932)
• Martin Niemöllerb. 1892DEnot in their usual nameGerman theologian (1892–1984)
• Joachim von Ribbentropb. 1893DEnot in their usual nameGerman Foreign Minister of Nazi Germany (1893–1946)
• Friedrich Hayekb. 1899ATAustrian and British economist (1899–1992)

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 · 345 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Friedrich?

We estimate roughly 615 thousand people bear Friedrich (counting its spellings and scripts) across 10 countries in our records.

In which country does Friedrich have the most bearers?

We estimate about 328 thousand people bear Friedrich in France, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled frederic.

Where is Friedrich most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Friedrich is densest in Sweden — about 1 in 106 people — even though France holds more of our records for it.

How common is Friedrich compared with other names?

In France, Friedrich is the 20th most common given name of 711,207 given names recorded there.

Is Friedrich a male or female name?

Friedrich 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 Friedrich mean?

Recorded meaning: from the Germanic given name Friedrich, from *friþu- 'peace' + *rīc- 'power, ruler'