Frieda
A feminine name derived from the Germanic name Frida, meaning "peace".
Name Census estimates that about 4,431 living Americans carry the first name Frieda. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Frieda today is around 61 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Frieda births was 1916 (838 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Frieda. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Frieda with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
4.4K
~ 1 in 77,354 Americans
Peak year
1916
838 babies that year
Average age
61
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,983
Tracked since 1880
Census
Frieda in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,408 people with the first name Frieda, which placed it at #3,315 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#3,315
National first-name rank
People counted
6.4K
6,408 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
79.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Frieda
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Frieda is White at 79.7%. The next largest groups are Black (8.2%) and Hispanic (6.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Frieda described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Frieda at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White79.7% · 5,106
- Black or African American8.2% · 527
- Hispanic or Latino6.4% · 411
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 151
- Two or more races1.8% · 118
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 95
Popularity
Frieda: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Frieda from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 6,190 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Frieda 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 Frieda during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Friedas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 40 states and territories. New York, Illinois, Ohio recorded the most babies named Frieda, while Mississippi, Arizona, Idaho recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 378 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Frieda
The name Frieda originated from the Germanic languages, specifically Old High German and Old Saxon. It is a feminine form of the male name Fried, which means "peace" or "calm." The name can be traced back to the 8th century and was popular among the Germanic tribes.
In Old High German, the name was spelled as "Fridu" or "Frida," while in Old Saxon, it was written as "Fridu" or "Fridū." The name eventually evolved into the modern spelling of "Frieda" in various German dialects and other Germanic languages.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Frieda can be found in the "Nibelungenlied," a legendary German epic poem from the 13th century. In the poem, Kriemhild, the wife of Siegfried, is sometimes referred to as "Frida" or "Frida Kriemhild."
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Frieda. One of the most famous was Frieda Kahlo (1907-1954), the renowned Mexican painter known for her self-portraits and depictions of Mexican culture. Another prominent Frieda was Frieda von Richthofen (1879-1956), the wife of the famous World War I fighter pilot Manfred von Richthofen, also known as the "Red Baron."
Other notable individuals with the name Frieda include:
1. Frieda Arkin (1904-1989), an American photographer and photojournalist known for her work during the Great Depression.
2. Frieda Belinfante (1904-1995), a Dutch cellist and conductor who helped establish the first all-female orchestra in the Netherlands.
3. Frieda Fromm-Reichmann (1889-1957), a German-American psychoanalyst and pioneer in the field of psychotherapy for schizophrenia.
4. Frieda Hempel (1885-1955), a German soprano who achieved fame in the early 20th century for her performances in operas by Richard Strauss and other composers.
5. Frieda Zamba (1941-2022), an Argentine actress and comedian known for her work in theater, film, and television in Argentina and Latin America.
While the name Frieda has roots in Germanic languages, it has been adopted and popularized in various cultures around the world, reflecting its enduring appeal and historical significance.
People
Frieda + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Frieda 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
Frieda: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Frieda?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,431 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Frieda 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 77,354 US residents.
Is Frieda a common name?
We classify Frieda as "Rare". It ranks above 96.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 25,468 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Frieda most popular?
The single biggest year for Frieda was 1916, when 838 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Frieda is about 61 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Frieda in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,408 people with the name Frieda, or 2.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,315 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Frieda in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Frieda?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Frieda appears almost entirely female. Of the 6,400 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Frieda?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Frieda is White at 79.7%. The next largest groups are Black (8.2%) and Hispanic (6.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Frieda most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Frieda in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.7% (5,106 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
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 Frieda in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Frieda a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Frieda 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 Frieda still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Frieda 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 Frieda 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.
How many people share the name Frieda?
Find out how many people have the name Frieda on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.