Friedrich
A masculine name of Germanic origin meaning "peaceful ruler".
Name Census estimates that about 551 living Americans carry the first name Friedrich. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Friedrich today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Friedrich births was 2021 (28 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Friedrich. 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.
People living today
551
~ 1 in 622,059 Americans
Peak year
2021
28 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,921
Tracked since 1914
Popularity
Friedrich: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Friedrich from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 150 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Friedrich remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Friedrich 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 Friedrich 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 Friedrich
The name Friedrich originated from the Germanic language family and has its roots dating back to the 5th century AD. It is a compound name derived from the Old German words "fridu" meaning peace, and "ric" meaning ruler or powerful. Thus, the name Friedrich can be interpreted as "peaceful ruler" or "one who rules in peace".
The name gained popularity during the reign of the Frankish dynasty in the 5th to 8th centuries AD, particularly in regions now known as Germany, France, and parts of the Low Countries. Variations of the name in Old German included Fridurih, Friduricus, and Fridericus, which later evolved into the modern spelling of Friedrich.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name can be found in the Annales Regni Francorum, a historical chronicle of the Carolingian dynasty, where a nobleman named Fridericus is mentioned in the year 791 AD. The name also appears in various religious texts and medieval chronicles from the 9th to 13th centuries.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Friedrich. One of the most famous was Friedrich I Barbarossa (1122-1190), a Holy Roman Emperor who reigned from 1155 to 1190 and was known for his military campaigns in Italy and the Third Crusade.
Friedrich II (1194-1250), also known as Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, was a Holy Roman Emperor and King of Sicily who ruled during the 13th century and was renowned for his intellectual pursuits and patronage of the arts and sciences.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) was a German philosopher, poet, and cultural critic whose works, such as "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" and "Beyond Good and Evil," had a profound influence on modern existentialism and nihilism.
Friedrich Engels (1820-1895) was a German philosopher, political theorist, and co-founder of Marxist theory alongside Karl Marx. His seminal work, "The Condition of the Working Class in England," shed light on the plight of the working class during the Industrial Revolution.
Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) was a German poet, playwright, and philosopher who is considered one of the greatest dramatists and influential figures of the Sturm und Drang literary movement. His famous plays include "Don Carlos" and "William Tell."
Notable bearers
Famous people named Friedrich
People
Friedrich + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Friedrich 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
Friedrich: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Friedrich?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 551 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Friedrich 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 622,059 US residents.
Is Friedrich a common name?
We classify Friedrich as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 623 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Friedrich most popular?
The single biggest year for Friedrich was 2021, when 28 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Friedrich is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Friedrich a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Friedrich in the SSA data are male. 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.