Freta
A feminine name of Scandinavian origin meaning "stream or current".
Name Census estimates that about 3 living Americans carry the first name Freta. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Freta today is around 87 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Freta births was 1916 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Freta. 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 Freta is about 87 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Fretas were born before 1949.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Freta. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
3
~ 1 in 114,251,446 Americans
Peak year
1916
5 babies that year
Average age
87
years old
1942 SSA rank
#4,875
Tracked since 1916
Popularity
Freta: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Freta from the 1910s through to the 1940s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 10 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Freta remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Freta 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 Freta during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Freta
The given name Freta originated from an ancient Germanic language spoken in what is now northern Germany and parts of the Netherlands during the early medieval period around the 5th to 8th centuries AD. It is derived from the Proto-Germanic root word "frid-", meaning peace, tranquility, or protection. The name is likely related to similar words like "frieden" in modern German or "vrede" in Dutch, both meaning peace.
One of the earliest known mentions of the name Freta can be found in the Codex Fuldensis, a 6th-century manuscript containing a collection of Germanic laws and customs. In this text, a woman named Freta is listed as a witness in a legal dispute over land ownership. This suggests that the name was already in use among the Germanic tribes of that region during the early medieval period.
In the 9th century, a Frankish noblewoman named Freta von Saxony was recorded as being a prominent figure at the court of Charlemagne. She is believed to have been a close advisor and confidante to the emperor, playing an influential role in his administration. Unfortunately, little else is known about her life or the specific years she lived.
Another notable figure with the name Freta was a 12th-century German abbess who presided over the Benedictine monastery of Quedlinburg in Saxony. She was highly regarded for her piety and leadership, and is said to have played a significant role in the religious and cultural life of the region during her tenure as abbess from approximately 1150 to 1175.
In the 14th century, a Flemish nun named Freta van Brugge was known for her mystical visions and writings. Born in Bruges around 1310, she joined the Beguine community and gained a reputation for her deep spiritual insights and teachings. Her works, though largely forgotten today, were influential in the religious and intellectual circles of her time.
Lastly, in the 16th century, a German painter named Freta Holbein was active in the city of Basel, Switzerland. Although little is known about her life, several of her portraits and religious paintings from the 1540s and 1550s have survived and are held in various museums and collections, attesting to her skill as an artist during the Renaissance period.
People
Freta + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Freta 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
Freta: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Freta?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Freta 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 114,251,446 US residents.
Is Freta a common name?
We classify Freta as "Very Rare". It ranks above 4.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 30 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Freta most popular?
The single biggest year for Freta was 1916, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Freta is about 87 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Freta in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Freta a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Freta 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.
Is Freta still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Freta in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Freta can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How common is the name Freta?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.