Fredda
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly from the Old Norse meaning "beautiful".
Name Census estimates that about 603 living Americans carry the first name Fredda. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Fredda today is around 74 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Fredda births was 1948 (61 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Fredda. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Fredda is about 74 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Freddas were born before 1962.
People living today
603
~ 1 in 568,415 Americans
Peak year
1948
61 babies that year
Average age
74
years old
1979 SSA rank
#10,700
Tracked since 1895
Popularity
Fredda: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Fredda from the 1890s through to the 1970s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 454 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Fredda by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Fredda during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Freddas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. New York, Texas, Tennessee recorded the most babies named Fredda, while Pennsylvania, Georgia, South Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 44 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Fredda
The name Fredda is thought to have originated from the Old Norse language, which was spoken by the Norse people in Scandinavia and other parts of northern Europe during the Viking Age, roughly between the 8th and 11th centuries AD. It is believed to be a feminine form of the masculine name Frederic or Frederick, derived from the Germanic elements "frid" meaning "peace" and "ric" meaning "ruler" or "power".
While the exact origins of Fredda as a distinct name are unclear, it likely emerged as a variation of the more common Frederica or Fredrika, which were used in various parts of northern Europe during the Middle Ages. Some linguists suggest that the name may have been influenced by the Old Norse word "fríð" meaning "beautiful" or "fair".
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Fredda can be found in the Icelandic Landnámabók (Book of Settlements), a medieval text that details the settlement of Iceland by Norse explorers in the 9th and 10th centuries. The text mentions a woman named Fredda, the daughter of a Norwegian settler named Þórir.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Fredda. One of the most prominent was Fredda Brilliant (1902-1999), an American opera singer and voice teacher who performed with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City during the 1920s and 1930s.
Another notable Fredda was Fredda Dudley Balling (1873-1958), a British author and journalist who wrote extensively about travel and outdoor pursuits in the early 20th century. Her works included books on mountaineering, camping, and life in rural England.
In the realm of politics, Fredda Pauline Blanchard (1903-1976) was a Canadian politician who served as a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of Canada from 1953 to 1958, representing the district of Québec-Ouest.
The name Fredda has also been associated with the arts, such as Fredda Indefank (1892-1977), a German painter and graphic artist known for her Expressionist works and her involvement in the Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) movement in the 1920s.
Lastly, Fredda Blanchard (1927-2022) was an American aviator and one of the founding members of the Whirly-Girls International Women Helicopter Pilots organization, established in 1955. She played a significant role in promoting women's involvement in aviation and helicopters.
People
Fredda + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Fredda as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with F
Other first names starting with F with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Fredda: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Fredda?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 603 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Fredda going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 568,415 US residents.
Is Fredda a common name?
We classify Fredda as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,477 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Fredda most popular?
The single biggest year for Fredda was 1948, when 61 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Fredda is about 74 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Fredda a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Fredda in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.