Freeman
Freeman was given to 26 boys in 2025, #4,071 among boys’ names; 10,996 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 4,180 Americans named Freeman and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (38% of everyone recorded); the median is 55 years old and half are between 32 and 72.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Freeman by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Freeman mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Freeman is “a male given name transferred from the surname.”
Proprialisation of freeman. From originating as a freeman (instead of a serf, indentured, or some other status)
free + man. A surname taken up by freed slaves.
/ˈfɹiː.mən/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Freeman?
#4,071 among boys’ names, 2025
Freeman fell from #3,915 in 2015 to #4,071 in 2025 among boys’ names, although its share of boys born rose from 14.1 to 15.2 per million.
229 babies in 1918, the peak
Freeman peaked in 1918, when 229 boys were given it, #393 among boys’ names. The 26 births of 2025 are 11% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 26 | #4,071 | 0.02 |
| 2024 | 31 | #3,631 | 0.02 |
| 2023 | 29 | #3,822 | 0.02 |
| 2022 | 28 | #3,920 | 0.02 |
| 2021 | 31 | #3,599 | 0.02 |
| 2020 | 24 | #4,179 | 0.01 |
| 2019 | 28 | #3,829 | 0.02 |
| 2018 | 36 | #3,187 | 0.02 |
| 2017 | 28 | #3,810 | 0.02 |
| 2016 | 32 | #3,465 | 0.02 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 27 | #3,915 | 0.01 |
| 2014 | 35 | #3,168 | 0.02 |
| 2013 | 35 | #3,145 | 0.02 |
| 2012 | 30 | #3,557 | 0.02 |
| 2011 | 31 | #3,458 | 0.02 |
| 2010 | 21 | #4,569 | 0.01 |
| 2009 | 37 | #3,125 | 0.02 |
| 2008 | 33 | #3,365 | 0.02 |
| 2007 | 36 | #3,150 | 0.02 |
| 2006 | 38 | #2,946 | 0.02 |
| 2005 | 33 | #3,107 | 0.02 |
| 2004 | 37 | #2,800 | 0.02 |
| 2003 | 29 | #3,215 | 0.01 |
| 2002 | 36 | #2,652 | 0.02 |
| 2001 | 35 | #2,702 | 0.02 |
| 2000 | 41 | #2,343 | 0.02 |
| 1999 | 46 | #2,074 | 0.02 |
| 1998 | 25 | #3,131 | 0.01 |
| 1997 | 42 | #2,104 | 0.02 |
| 1996 | 43 | #2,024 | 0.02 |
| 1995 | 39 | #2,110 | 0.02 |
| 1994 | 43 | #1,936 | 0.02 |
| 1993 | 47 | #1,797 | 0.02 |
| 1992 | 58 | #1,527 | 0.03 |
| 1991 | 38 | #1,987 | 0.02 |
| 1990 | 50 | #1,636 | 0.02 |
| 1989 | 36 | #1,999 | 0.02 |
| 1988 | 45 | #1,595 | 0.02 |
| 1987 | 40 | #1,690 | 0.02 |
| 1986 | 41 | #1,600 | 0.02 |
| 1985 | 57 | #1,269 | 0.03 |
| 1984 | 45 | #1,428 | 0.02 |
| 1983 | 56 | #1,224 | 0.03 |
| 1982 | 48 | #1,369 | 0.03 |
| 1981 | 58 | #1,201 | 0.03 |
| 1980 | 53 | #1,276 | 0.03 |
| 1979 | 40 | #1,497 | 0.02 |
| 1978 | 46 | #1,356 | 0.03 |
| 1977 | 50 | #1,259 | 0.03 |
| 1976 | 46 | #1,306 | 0.03 |
| 1975 | 61 | #1,072 | 0.04 |
| 1974 | 51 | #1,156 | 0.03 |
| 1973 | 57 | #1,079 | 0.04 |
| 1972 | 58 | #1,064 | 0.04 |
| 1971 | 69 | #981 | 0.04 |
| 1970 | 67 | #995 | 0.04 |
| 1969 | 57 | #1,020 | 0.03 |
| 1968 | 53 | #1,021 | 0.03 |
| 1967 | 64 | #902 | 0.04 |
| 1966 | 58 | #955 | 0.03 |
| 1965 | 76 | #845 | 0.04 |
| 1964 | 72 | #896 | 0.04 |
| 1963 | 77 | #859 | 0.04 |
| 1962 | 73 | #892 | 0.04 |
| 1961 | 85 | #833 | 0.04 |
| 1960 | 105 | #752 | 0.05 |
| 1959 | 96 | #781 | 0.04 |
| 1958 | 78 | #857 | 0.04 |
| 1957 | 111 | #709 | 0.05 |
| 1956 | 130 | #668 | 0.06 |
| 1955 | 108 | #704 | 0.05 |
| 1954 | 125 | #651 | 0.06 |
| 1953 | 114 | #665 | 0.06 |
| 1952 | 104 | #681 | 0.05 |
| 1951 | 109 | #668 | 0.06 |
| 1950 | 114 | #653 | 0.06 |
| 1949 | 119 | #624 | 0.07 |
| 1948 | 129 | #588 | 0.07 |
| 1947 | 128 | #601 | 0.07 |
| 1946 | 114 | #607 | 0.07 |
| 1945 | 114 | #564 | 0.08 |
| 1944 | 130 | #533 | 0.10 |
| 1943 | 159 | #491 | 0.11 |
| 1942 | 135 | #526 | 0.10 |
| 1941 | 126 | #528 | 0.10 |
| 1940 | 121 | #533 | 0.10 |
| 1939 | 119 | #525 | 0.11 |
| 1938 | 128 | #513 | 0.12 |
| 1937 | 147 | #458 | 0.14 |
| 1936 | 134 | #488 | 0.13 |
| 1935 | 112 | #545 | 0.11 |
| 1934 | 132 | #503 | 0.13 |
| 1933 | 149 | #452 | 0.15 |
| 1932 | 153 | #467 | 0.15 |
| 1931 | 148 | #465 | 0.14 |
| 1930 | 164 | #463 | 0.15 |
| 1929 | 180 | #441 | 0.17 |
| 1928 | 173 | #461 | 0.16 |
| 1927 | 169 | #466 | 0.15 |
| 1926 | 204 | #423 | 0.18 |
| 1925 | 190 | #434 | 0.17 |
| 1924 | 195 | #437 | 0.17 |
| 1923 | 199 | #430 | 0.18 |
| 1922 | 184 | #455 | 0.17 |
| 1921 | 203 | #426 | 0.18 |
| 1920 | 201 | #419 | 0.19 |
| 1919 | 199 | #414 | 0.20 |
| 1918 | 229 | #393 | 0.23 |
| 1917 | 171 | #433 | 0.18 |
| 1916 | 173 | #430 | 0.19 |
| 1915 | 171 | #414 | 0.20 |
| 1914 | 135 | #409 | 0.21 |
| 1913 | 106 | #420 | 0.21 |
| 1912 | 103 | #380 | 0.24 |
| 1911 | 65 | #339 | 0.29 |
| 1910 | 52 | #357 | 0.27 |
| 1909 | 52 | #319 | 0.32 |
| 1908 | 45 | #338 | 0.29 |
| 1907 | 41 | #336 | 0.28 |
| 1906 | 42 | #320 | 0.32 |
| 1905 | 47 | #290 | 0.36 |
| 1904 | 40 | #315 | 0.31 |
| 1903 | 26 | #386 | 0.22 |
| 1902 | 40 | #304 | 0.33 |
| 1901 | 20 | #428 | 0.19 |
| 1900 | 44 | #320 | 0.29 |
| 1899 | 22 | #396 | 0.21 |
| 1898 | 38 | #308 | 0.31 |
| 1897 | 30 | #343 | 0.27 |
| 1896 | 25 | #391 | 0.21 |
| 1895 | 27 | #363 | 0.23 |
| 1894 | 27 | #353 | 0.23 |
| 1893 | 24 | #370 | 0.21 |
| 1892 | 19 | #451 | 0.16 |
| 1891 | 33 | #286 | 0.33 |
| 1890 | 28 | #330 | 0.25 |
| 1889 | 35 | #286 | 0.32 |
| 1888 | 34 | #308 | 0.28 |
| 1887 | 26 | #327 | 0.26 |
| 1886 | 21 | #386 | 0.19 |
| 1885 | 27 | #329 | 0.25 |
| 1884 | 24 | #364 | 0.21 |
| 1883 | 20 | #386 | 0.19 |
| 1882 | 29 | #320 | 0.26 |
| 1881 | 25 | #326 | 0.25 |
| 1880 | 26 | #337 | 0.24 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Freeman a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Freeman has been given almost only to boys: 5 girls in 146 years of records.
Girls and boys named Freeman: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Freeman, and how old are they?
4,180 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 38% of the 10,996 Americans ever recorded as Freeman. The median Freeman alive today is 55 years old; half are between 32 and 72.
The 2020 Census counted 4,236 people named Freeman (53 women and girls, 4,183 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 4,673 born in the U.S. The Census count is 9% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 459 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,290 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 796 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 706 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 541 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 387 |
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 Freeman born?
The states with the most babies named Freeman are Georgia, Alabama and Texas, with 28% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Alabama is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Georgia | 531 | not ranked | 1.8× |
| Alabama | 530 | not ranked | 2.2× |
| Texas | 436 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Tennessee | 371 | not ranked | 1.5× |
| North Carolina | 281 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Ohio | 241 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Kentucky | 240 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Pennsylvania | 212 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Arkansas | 200 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Louisiana | 199 | not ranked | 1.0× |
Where Freeman is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Freeman is most over-represented in Alabama: since 1910 it was given 2.2 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 Freeman 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 5 names spelled alike, given to 12,823 babies since 1880, Freeman is the most given (86% of them). In 2025 it was given to 26 of their 34 babies (76%), 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 Freeman
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 Freeman and names like it
- Compare Freeman and FermanBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sFreeman peaked in 1918.
- Georgia’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Freeman since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Freeman: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1918The year the most babies were named Freeman.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Freeman alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with FMost given first.