Fred
Fred was given to 80 boys in 2025, #1,936 among boys’ names; 345,684 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 93,700 Americans named Fred and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (27% of everyone recorded); the median is 70 years old and half are between 60 and 79.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Fred by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Fred mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Fred is “a short version of Frederick, Alfred, or Wilfred, also used as a formal male given name.”
/fɹɛd/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Fred?
#1,936 among boys’ names, 2025
Fred fell from #1,591 in 2015 to #1,936 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 52.7 to 46.8 per million.
6,566 babies in 1924, the peak
Fred peaked in 1924, when 6,566 babies were given it (6,532 boys, #32 among boys’ names). The 80 births of 2025 are 1% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 80 | #1,936 | 0.05 |
| 2024 | 99 | #1,690 | 0.06 |
| 2023 | 98 | #1,712 | 0.06 |
| 2022 | 83 | #1,894 | 0.05 |
| 2021 | 98 | #1,679 | 0.06 |
| 2020 | 83 | #1,802 | 0.05 |
| 2019 | 98 | #1,654 | 0.05 |
| 2018 | 99 | #1,642 | 0.05 |
| 2017 | 105 | #1,558 | 0.06 |
| 2016 | 109 | #1,535 | 0.06 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 101 | #1,591 | 0.05 |
| 2014 | 111 | #1,468 | 0.06 |
| 2013 | 102 | #1,551 | 0.05 |
| 2012 | 106 | #1,517 | 0.06 |
| 2011 | 105 | #1,517 | 0.06 |
| 2010 | 107 | #1,520 | 0.06 |
| 2009 | 121 | #1,404 | 0.06 |
| 2008 | 133 | #1,308 | 0.07 |
| 2007 | 143 | #1,232 | 0.07 |
| 2006 | 175 | #1,039 | 0.09 |
| 2005 | 148 | #1,114 | 0.07 |
| 2004 | 161 | #1,019 | 0.08 |
| 2003 | 152 | #1,036 | 0.08 |
| 2002 | 187 | #874 | 0.10 |
| 2001 | 182 | #874 | 0.09 |
| 2000 | 157 | #963 | 0.08 |
| 1999 | 200 | #779 | 0.10 |
| 1998 | 217 | #742 | 0.11 |
| 1997 | 221 | #715 | 0.12 |
| 1996 | 257 | #649 | 0.14 |
| 1995 | 245 | #672 | 0.13 |
| 1994 | 256 | #650 | 0.13 |
| 1993 | 314 | #579 | 0.16 |
| 1992 | 316 | #571 | 0.16 |
| 1991 | 368 | #521 | 0.18 |
| 1990 | 385 | #497 | 0.19 |
| 1989 | 416 | #462 | 0.21 |
| 1988 | 392 | #457 | 0.20 |
| 1987 | 380 | #455 | 0.20 |
| 1986 | 443 | #408 | 0.24 |
| 1985 | 463 | #385 | 0.25 |
| 1984 | 449 | #385 | 0.25 |
| 1983 | 546 | #338 | 0.30 |
| 1982 | 554 | #340 | 0.31 |
| 1981 | 582 | #329 | 0.32 |
| 1980 | 585 | #324 | 0.33 |
| 1979 | 612 | #315 | 0.36 |
| 1978 | 694 | #278 | 0.42 |
| 1977 | 747 | #265 | 0.45 |
| 1976 | 799 | #248 | 0.51 |
| 1975 | 840 | #248 | 0.54 |
| 1974 | 890 | #232 | 0.57 |
| 1973 | 1,020 | #215 | 0.65 |
| 1972 | 1,039 | #215 | 0.64 |
| 1971 | 1,281 | #194 | 0.72 |
| 1970 | 1,503 | #183 | 0.81 |
| 1969 | 1,575 | #176 | 0.88 |
| 1968 | 1,570 | #172 | 0.90 |
| 1967 | 1,687 | #160 | 1.0 |
| 1966 | 1,881 | #151 | 1.1 |
| 1965 | 2,146 | #141 | 1.2 |
| 1964 | 2,464 | #133 | 1.2 |
| 1963 | 2,525 | #134 | 1.2 |
| 1962 | 2,854 | #126 | 1.4 |
| 1961 | 3,091 | #124 | 1.5 |
| 1960 | 3,396 | #117 | 1.6 |
| 1959 | 3,582 | #112 | 1.7 |
| 1958 | 3,513 | #115 | 1.7 |
| 1957 | 3,637 | #103 | 1.7 |
| 1956 | 3,578 | #102 | 1.7 |
| 1955 | 3,502 | #97 | 1.7 |
| 1954 | 3,695 | #93 | 1.8 |
| 1953 | 3,789 | #92 | 1.9 |
| 1952 | 3,960 | #90 | 2.0 |
| 1951 | 3,994 | #87 | 2.1 |
| 1950 | 4,195 | #84 | 2.3 |
| 1949 | 4,731 | #72 | 2.7 |
| 1948 | 5,376 | #66 | 3.1 |
| 1947 | 6,392 | #56 | 3.5 |
| 1946 | 6,012 | #51 | 3.7 |
| 1945 | 5,118 | #51 | 3.8 |
| 1944 | 5,580 | #47 | 4.1 |
| 1943 | 6,168 | #45 | 4.3 |
| 1942 | 6,088 | #46 | 4.4 |
| 1941 | 5,619 | #43 | 4.6 |
| 1940 | 5,581 | #40 | 4.8 |
| 1939 | 5,538 | #40 | 5.0 |
| 1938 | 5,768 | #38 | 5.2 |
| 1937 | 5,738 | #35 | 5.4 |
| 1936 | 5,602 | #36 | 5.4 |
| 1935 | 5,493 | #34 | 5.3 |
| 1934 | 5,466 | #33 | 5.3 |
| 1933 | 5,287 | #34 | 5.3 |
| 1932 | 5,525 | #33 | 5.3 |
| 1931 | 5,698 | #33 | 5.5 |
| 1930 | 6,049 | #32 | 5.5 |
| 1929 | 5,856 | #34 | 5.4 |
| 1928 | 6,036 | #36 | 5.4 |
| 1927 | 6,313 | #35 | 5.6 |
| 1926 | 6,447 | #31 | 5.8 |
| 1925 | 6,205 | #33 | 5.6 |
| 1924 | 6,532 | #32 | 5.8 |
| 1923 | 6,314 | #33 | 5.8 |
| 1922 | 6,245 | #33 | 5.7 |
| 1921 | 6,496 | #33 | 5.9 |
| 1920 | 6,298 | #33 | 5.9 |
| 1919 | 6,091 | #30 | 6.2 |
| 1918 | 6,182 | #33 | 6.1 |
| 1917 | 5,986 | #29 | 6.5 |
| 1916 | 5,745 | #29 | 6.5 |
| 1915 | 5,778 | #26 | 6.8 |
| 1914 | 4,441 | #28 | 6.8 |
| 1913 | 3,624 | #27 | 7.1 |
| 1912 | 3,103 | #26 | 7.2 |
| 1911 | 1,808 | #22 | 8.0 |
| 1910 | 1,587 | #22 | 8.2 |
| 1909 | 1,355 | #22 | 8.3 |
| 1908 | 1,381 | #20 | 8.9 |
| 1907 | 1,371 | #19 | 9.3 |
| 1906 | 1,193 | #20 | 9.0 |
| 1905 | 1,284 | #18 | 9.7 |
| 1904 | 1,223 | #18 | 9.5 |
| 1903 | 1,204 | #18 | 10.1 |
| 1902 | 1,286 | #18 | 10.5 |
| 1901 | 1,133 | #18 | 10.6 |
| 1900 | 1,646 | #17 | 10.9 |
| 1899 | 1,182 | #16 | 11.1 |
| 1898 | 1,447 | #15 | 11.8 |
| 1897 | 1,301 | #16 | 11.5 |
| 1896 | 1,393 | #16 | 11.7 |
| 1895 | 1,483 | #15 | 12.6 |
| 1894 | 1,475 | #15 | 12.7 |
| 1893 | 1,493 | #15 | 13.3 |
| 1892 | 1,628 | #15 | 13.3 |
| 1891 | 1,362 | #15 | 13.5 |
| 1890 | 1,506 | #15 | 13.6 |
| 1889 | 1,554 | #15 | 14.1 |
| 1888 | 1,665 | #15 | 13.8 |
| 1887 | 1,454 | #15 | 14.3 |
| 1886 | 1,599 | #15 | 14.4 |
| 1885 | 1,562 | #14 | 14.5 |
| 1884 | 1,638 | #15 | 14.3 |
| 1883 | 1,502 | #15 | 14.4 |
| 1882 | 1,641 | #15 | 14.4 |
| 1881 | 1,418 | #15 | 14.1 |
| 1880 | 1,569 | #15 | 14.2 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Fred a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Fred has been given almost only to boys: 2,029 girls in 146 years of records.
Girls and boys named Fred: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Fred, and how old are they?
93,700 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 27% of the 345,684 Americans ever recorded as Fred. The median Fred alive today is 70 years old; half are between 60 and 79.
The 2020 Census counted 129,142 people named Fred (346 women and girls, 128,796 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 118,418 born in the U.S. The Census count is 9% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 19,800 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 47,400 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 16,500 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 6,060 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 2,470 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,260 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Fred born?
The states with the most babies named Fred are New York, Pennsylvania and California, with 21% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 25,546 | #1,339 | 0.9× |
| Pennsylvania | 19,235 | #1,138 | 0.9× |
| California | 18,846 | #1,889 | 1.1× |
| Illinois | 17,673 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Texas | 15,912 | #2,704 | 0.9× |
| Ohio | 15,226 | #1,341 | 1.0× |
| North Carolina | 11,944 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Michigan | 11,415 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| New Jersey | 9,790 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Tennessee | 9,591 | not ranked | 1.3× |
Where Fred is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Fred is most over-represented in Colorado: since 1910 it was given 1.3 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Fred with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 3 names spelled alike, given to 346,701 babies since 1880, Fred is the most given (100% of them). In 2025 it was given to 80 of their 80 babies (100%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Fred
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Fred and names like it
- Compare Fred and FerdBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sFred peaked in 1924.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Fred since 1910.
- The top names of 1924The year the most babies were named Fred.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Fred alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with FMost given first.