Frederick is a masculine given name meaning "peaceful ruler". It is the English form of the German name Friedrich. Its meaning is derived from the Germanic word elements ''frid'', or

peace Peace is a state of harmony in the absence of hostility and violence, and everything that discusses achieving human welfare through justice and peaceful conditions. In a societal sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (suc ...

, and ''ric'', meaning "ruler" or "power". Frederick ranked among the top 100 names in the United States between 1880 and 1957 and has declined thereafter. It was ranked as the 536th most popular name for boys in 2009 in that country. It ranked as the 99th most popular name for boys in England and Wales in 2007. Freddy, a short form, ranked as the 60th most popular name for boys in England and Wales in 2008. Frederica is a feminine variant of the name Frederick.

Variants

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

: Frederik * Breton: Frederig * Catalan: Frederic * Croatian: Fridrik * Czech: Bedřich, Bedříšek, Béda * Danish: Frederik, Frede * Dutch: Frederick, Frederik,

Fred Fred or FRED may refer to: People * Fred (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Mononym * Fred (cartoonist) (1931–2013), pen name of Fred Othon Aristidès, French * Fred (footballer, born 1949) (1949–2022), Fred ...

, Frits, Freek, Rik, Fedde * Emiliano-Romagnolo: Fedrîgh * English: Frederick, Fredrick,

, Freddy, Freddie, Frederic, Fredric * Estonian: Priidu, Priit, Priidik, Preedik, Reedik * Faroese: Fríðrikur * Finnish: Fredrik, Veeti, Rieti, Reeti, Reetu * French: Frédéric ( Frédérique is the feminine variant) * German: Friedrich,

Fritz Fritz is a common German language, German male name. The name originated as a German diminutive of Friedrich (given name), Friedrich or Frederick (given name), Frederick (''Der Alte Fritz'', and ''Stary Fryc'' were common nicknames for King Fred ...

, Fredi, Fredy, Feick, Frierdich * Greek: Φρειδερίκος (Freideríkos) * Hungarian: Frigyes, Frici * Icelandic: Friðrik * Irish: Feardorcha * Italian:

Federico Federico (; ) is a given name and surname. It is a form of Frederick (given name), Frederick, most commonly found in Spanish language, Spanish, Portuguese language, Portuguese and Italian language, Italian. People with the given name Federico Ar ...

, Fredo, Federigo (obsolete) *

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

: Fridericus * Latvian: Frīdrihs, Fricis, Frīdis, Freds, Fredijs, Frederiks * Lithuanian: Frederikas * Norwegian: Fredrik *

Old Frisian Old Frisian was a West Germanic language spoken between the late 13th century and the end of 16th century. It is the common ancestor of all the modern Frisian languages except for the North Frisian language#Insular North Frisian, Insular North ...

: Frethirik *

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

: Friðríkr * Polish: Fryderyk, Fredek, Fryc * Portuguese: Fradique, Frederico * Russian: Фридрих (Fridrih), Фредерик (Frederik) *

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic (, ; Endonym and exonym, endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic language, Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongs ...

: Freadaraig * Serbian: Fridrih * Slovene: Friderik * Spanish:

, Fico, Feche, Fede, Fadrique (obsolete) * Swedish: Fredrik * Welsh: Ffredrig, Ffred

Notable people with the name

Kings of Denmark

* Frederick I of Denmark (1471-1533) *

Frederick II of Denmark Frederick II (1 July 1534 – 4 April 1588) was King of Denmark-Norway, Denmark and Norway and Duke of Duchy of Schleswig, Schleswig and Duchy of Holstein, Holstein from 1559 until his death in 1588. A member of the House of Oldenburg, Fre ...

(1534-1588) *

Frederick III of Denmark Frederick III (; 18 March 1609 – 9 February 1670) was King of Denmark and Norway from 1648 until his death in 1670. He also governed under the name Frederick II as diocesan administrator (colloquially referred to as prince-bishop) of the ...

(1609-1670) *

Frederick IV of Denmark Frederick IV (Danish language, Danish: ''Frederik''; 11 October 1671 – 12 October 1730) was List of Danish monarchs, King of Denmark and List of Norwegian monarchs, Norway from 1699 until his death. Frederick was the son of Christian V of Denma ...

(1671-1730) * Frederick V of Denmark (1723-1766) * Frederick VI of Denmark (1768-1839) *

Frederick VII of Denmark Frederick VII (Frederik Carl Christian; 6 October 1808 – 15 November 1863) was King of Denmark from 1848 to 1863. He was the last Danish monarch of the older Royal branch of the House of Oldenburg and the last monarch, king of Denmark to r ...

(1808-1863) *

Frederick VIII of Denmark Frederik VIII (; 3 June 1843 – 14 May 1912) was King of Denmark from 29 January 1906 until his death in 1912. As the eldest son of Christian IX of Denmark, King Christian IX, nicknamed the ''Father-in-law of Europe'', Frederick was related ...

(1843-1912) *

Frederik IX of Denmark Frederik IX (Christian Frederik Franz Michael Carl Valdemar Georg; 11 March 1899 – 14 January 1972) was King of Denmark from 1947 to 1972. Frederik was born into the House of Glücksburg during the reign of his great-grandfather King Chr ...

(1899-1972) *

Frederik X of Denmark Frederik X (Frederik André Henrik Christian, ; born 26 May 1968) is King of Denmark. He acceded to the throne following Abdication of Margrethe II, his mother's abdication in 2024. Frederik is the eldest son of Margrethe II and Prince Henri ...

(born 1968)

King of Sweden

* Frederick I of Sweden (1676-1751) * Adolf Frederick, King of Sweden (1710–1771)

Kings of Prussia

* Frederick I of Prussia (1657-1713), previously Frederick III, Elector of Brandenburg * Frederick II of Prussia (1712-1786), Frederick the Great * Frederick III, German Emperor (1831-1888), also King Frederick III of Prussia *

Frederick William I of Prussia Frederick William I (; 14 August 1688 – 31 May 1740), known as the Soldier King (), was King in Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg from 1713 until his death in 1740, as well as Prince of Neuchâtel. Born in Berlin, he was raised by the Hugu ...

(1688–1740) * Frederick William II of Prussia (1744–1797) *

Frederick William III of Prussia Frederick William III (; 3 August 1770 – 7 June 1840) was King of Prussia from 16 November 1797 until his death in 1840. He was concurrently Elector of Brandenburg in the Holy Roman Empire until 6 August 1806, when the empire was dissolved ...

(1770–1840) * Frederick William IV of Prussia (1795–1861)

King of Württemberg

* Frederick I of Württemberg (1754–1816)

King of Bohemia

* Frederick V of the Palatinate (1596-1632)

Holy Roman Emperors

Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (; ), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death in 1190. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aa ...

(1122-1190) (Barbarossa) *

Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II (, , , ; 26 December 1194 – 13 December 1250) was King of Sicily from 1198, King of Germany from 1212, King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor from 1220 and King of Jerusalem from 1225. He was the son of Emperor Henry VI, Holy Roman ...

(1194–1250) * Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor (1415–1493)

Other royalty

* Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange (1584–1647), Stadtholder of Holland, one of the principal commanders of Dutch Revolt * Frederick, Hereditary Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (1769–1814) * Frederick, Hereditary Prince of Denmark (1753–1805) * Frederick, Prince of Wales (1707–1751) * Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany (1763–1827) * Prince Frederick of Great Britain (1750–1765) * Prince Friedrich of Hesse and by Rhine (1870–1873) * Prince Frederick of Hesse-Kassel (1720–1785) * Prince Frederick of Hesse-Kassel (1747–1837) * Prince Frederick of Hohenzollern (1891–1965) * Prince Frederick of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (1843–1904) * Prince Frederick of Homburg (1585–1638) *

Frederick I, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach Frederick I of Ansbach and Bayreuth (also known as Frederick V; or ; 8 May 1460 – 4 April 1536) was born at Ansbach as the eldest son of Albert III, Margrave of Brandenburg by his second wife Anna of Saxony (d. 1512), Anna, daughter of Freder ...

Others

* Frederick of Utrecht (–834/838), saint, bishop of Utrecht * Fred Akuffo (1937–1979), Ghanaian army officer, Head of State of Ghana from July 1978 to June 1979 * Fred Astaire (1899–1987), born Frederick Austerlitz, American dancer, actor and singer * Frederick Benteen, American military officer * Frederick Cronyn Betts, Canadian politician and solicitor * Freddie Blassie, American professional wrestling villain and manager * Frederick C. Bock, American World War II pilot * Fred Bodsworth, Canadian writer, journalist and amateur naturalist *

Frederick Russell Burnham Major (rank), Major Frederick Russell Burnham Distinguished Service Order, DSO (May 11, 1861 – September 1, 1947) was an American scout and world-traveling adventurer. He is known for his service to the British South Africa Company and to t ...

, American scout and world-traveling adventurer * Frederick Bywaters (1902–1923), English murderer * Frederick Carrington, British military leader *

Frédéric Chopin Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period who wrote primarily for Piano solo, solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown ...

, Polish composer, one of the greatest composers of the Romantic Era * Fredrick de Silva, Sri Lankan Ambassador to France and UNESCO * Frederick Douglass (1818–1895), African-American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman * Federico Fellini, Italian filmmaker * William Frederick Fisher, American physician and former NASA astronaut * Frederick Forsyth (1938–2025), British writer and journalist * Frederick Graff (1775–1847), American hydraulic engineer * Frederick D. Gregory, former United States Air Force pilot, military engineer, test pilot, and NASA astronaut as well as former NASA Deputy Administrator *

Frederick Gutekunst Frederick Gutekunst (September 25, 1831 – April 27, 1917) was an American photographer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He opened his first photographic portrait studio with his brother in 1854 and successfully ran his business for sixty year ...

(1831–1917), American photographer * Frederick Halterman (1831–1907), U.S. Congressman * Frederick Hauck, captain in the United States Navy, former fighter pilot and NASA astronaut * Frederick Mitchell Hodgson, British colonial administrator who was Governor of the Gold Coast (1898–1900), Barbados (1900–04) and British Guiana (1904–11) * Frederick Howard, 5th Earl of Carlisle, British peer, statesman, diplomat, and author * Frederic Lang, New Zealand politician, the eighth Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1913 to 1922 * Frederick W. Leslie, American scientist who flew on the NASA STS-73 Space Shuttle mission as a payload specialist * Frederick W. Loew (1834–1909), French-American lawyer and judge * Frederick Marple (1871–1931), English footballer * Federico da Montefeltro, one of the most successful mercenary captains of the Italian Renaissance, and lord of

Urbino Urbino ( , ; Romagnol: ''Urbìn'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italy, Italian region of Marche, southwest of Pesaro, a World Heritage Site notable for a remarkable historical legacy of independent Renaissance culture, especially und ...

* Fredrick Moore (born 2005), American football player * Fredrick Muyia Nafukho, Kenyan-American academic * Frederick North, Lord North, Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1770 to 1782 who led Great Britain through most of the American War of Independence * Frederick Law Olmsted, American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator, popularly considered to be the father of American landscape architecture * Frederick C. Olney (1862–1918), African-American lawyer with Native American ancestry * Frederick Alfred Pile, British army officer * Frederick Poole, English army officer and general * Frederick Roberts, British Army officer * Frederick Robinson, 1st Viscount Goderich, British politician during the Regency, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom between August 1827 and January 1828 * Frederick Sandys, British painter, illustrator, and draughtsman * Frederick Sanger, British Biochemist who twice won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry * Fredrick de Saram (1912–1983), Sri Lankan Sinhala army colonel, lawyer, and cricket captain * Frederick Scherger, British Air Chief Marshal * Frederick Sheide (1876–1944), American politician * Federico Spinola, Italian naval commander in Spanish Habsburg service * Frederick W. Sturckow, engineer, retired United States Marine Corps officer, former NASA astronaut, and commercial spacecraft pilot * Frederick Sturrock (1882–1958), South African politician * Frederic Thesiger, 1st Baron Chelmsford, British jurist and Conservative politician, twice Lord Chancellor of Great Britain * Frederic Thesiger, 1st Viscount Chelmsford, British statesman, Governor of Queensland from 1905 to 1909, Governor of New South Wales from 1909 to 1913, Viceroy of India from 1916 to 1921 * Frederic Thesiger, 2nd Baron Chelmsford, British imperial general who came to prominence during the Anglo-Zulu War

Fictional characters

* Fred G. Sanford, in the American sitcoms ''Sanford and Son'' ''and Sanford'' *Fred Jones, in Scooby Doo series *Frederick Kreiburg, a survivor in the video game Identity V