How rare is the name Fred?

129,142 people in the United States have the first name Fred, about 1 in 2,339. It ranks #437 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

FRED

#437

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
129,142
About
1 in 2,339
This common or more
55.9%
Who bears it

Of the 129,142 people named Fred, 74.4% reported their origin as White, 13.5% as Black and 6.9% as Hispanic or Latino. Virtually all are male (99.7%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Fred peaked in 1924, when 6,566 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
1924
Births that year
6,566
In 2025*
80 ▼99%
Recorded as
almost entirely male

At least 345,684 babies have been given the name since 1880. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Fred by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1880s, when it ranked #27. The largest share of babies named Fred, 31.1%, were born between 1901 and 1927, the Greatest Generation's birth years.

1880s#2715,706
1890s#5514,395
1900s#7713,169
1910s#6844,663
1920s#7463,215
1930s#7156,496
1940s#10156,872
1950s#20937,584
1960s#29923,312
1970s#5079,499
1980s#8274,851
1990s#1,3762,779
2000s#2,4351,559
2010s#3,4461,043
2020s#3,811541
Before 19019.2%
Greatest Generation 1901–2731.1%
Silent Generation 1928–4529.7%
Baby boom 1946–6421.6%
Generation X 1965–805.5%
Millennials 1981–961.9%
Generation Z 1997–120.7%
2013 and later0.4%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Fred is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Fred has been most common in Wyoming (1.7×), Mississippi (1.7×), and Alabama (1.6×), and least common in Nevada (0.3×).

297,883 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Fred

#435 Isabel · 129,711#436 Vivian · 129,224#438 Addison · 128,866#439 Tamara · 128,711

Spelled almost the same

5 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Fred, most common first.

#1,894 Freda · 15,119#2,102 Fredy · 12,789#7,931 Fredi · 1,861#29,557 Fredo · 299#47,857 Fredd · 135

Also a last name

As a last name, Fred ranks #15,152 of 156,621, with 1,868 people. See Fred as a last name

Compare