Freda vs Free
American parents have registered 42,553 Fredas since 1880, against 132 Frees. Freda is still ahead, with 17 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Freda Free
Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.
Who was ahead
Of the 146 years in which either name was published, Freda for 145 years and Free for 1 year. The lead changed hands 2 times.
Side by side
| Freda | Free | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 42,553 | 132 |
| Most in one year | 1,025 | 19 |
| Babies in 2025 | 17 | under 5 |
| Estimated living today | 13,000 | 130 |
| Median age today | 70 | 19 |
| Peak year | 1918 | 1975 |
| Best rank | 192nd girls | 5,984th girls |
| Rank in 2025 | 6,546th | unranked |
| First recorded | 1880 | 1974 |
| Girls / boys | 42,527 / 26 | 76 / 56 |
A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.
Which name is older
Half of the Fredas alive today are over 70; half the Frees are over 19. That is 51 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Freda and Free.