How popular is the baby name Frederick in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Frederick.

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Popularity of the baby name Frederick


Posts that mention the name Frederick

Wisconsin family with 22 children

Some of the Schoville family of Wisconsin (in 1950)
Some of the Schoville family (in 1950)

Fred and Edith Schoville of Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin, had their first child in 1926, their last in 1952, and 20 in between. That’s a total of 22 children. All were single births.

Here are the names of all 22, plus as many of the birth years as I could verify.

  1. Marjorie Maxine (born in 1925)
  2. Freddie (b. 1926)
  3. Lola Jean (b. 1928)
  4. Betty Lavonne (b. 1929)
  5. Marlin Dwayne (b. 1932)
  6. Phyllis Marie (b. 1933)
  7. Donna Mae (b. 1934)
  8. Annabelle
  9. Patsy L.
  10. Larry Lee (b. 1938)
  11. Janice P. (b. 1939)
  12. Sharon H.
  13. Frederick P. (b. 1941)
  14. Susan Kay (b. 1942)
  15. Ronald A.
  16. Robert A. (b. 1945)
  17. Karen C. (b. 1946)
  18. Linda Lou (b. 1947)
  19. Gary G. (b. 1948)
  20. Charles William (b. 1949)
  21. Steven (b. 1951)
  22. Randy Joe (b. 1952)

More than half of the Schoville children are listed on the 1950 U.S. Census:

The Schoville family on the 1950 U.S. Census
The Schoville family (1950 U.S. Census)

Which girl name is your favorite? How about boy name?

Sources:

Image: Clipping from the Spokane Daily Chronicle (18 Apr. 1950)

[Latest update: Oct. 2024]

How did Portland Hoffa get her name?

American comedian Portland Hoffa (1905-1990)
Portland Hoffa

Dr. Frederick Hoffa and his wife, Mary, had four baby girls in the early 20th century.

The first was named Lebanon. She was born in Lebanon, Pennsylvania.

The second was named Portland. She was born in Portland, Oregon.

The third was named Lastone, even though she wasn’t.

The fourth was named Doctor Fredericka. (The “Doctor” was later dropped.)

Portland Hoffa went on to become a radio star along with her first husband, Fred Allen.

Portland and Fred never had children, but Portland did have at least one namesake — Portland Mason, daughter of English actor James Mason and his first wife, Pamela. Her nickname was Porty.

Sources:

Multiple middle names in the British upper class

Many babies born into the British upper class are bestowed with a string of given names.

But it wasn’t always this way.

Centuries ago, multiple middles were unheard of. They began creeping in only when “two names had ceased to be a distinction.” The trend started at the very top:

The court again set the example, and in 1738, George III was baptized by the names George William Frederic. But for many years this fashion was regarded as too absurd for Englishmen to follow.

This explains why, when John Dawnay, 4th Viscount Downe, gave his firstborn two middles in 1764 he was ridiculed by fellow society member George “Gilly” Williams:

Downe’s child is to be christened this evening. The sponsors I know not, but his three names made me laugh not a little, John Christopher Burton. I wish to God, when he arrives at the years of puberty, he may marry Mary Josephina Antonietta Bentley.

Oliver Goldsmith mocked the fad as well with the character Carolina Wilhelmina Amelia Skeggs in his novel The Vicar of Wakefield (1766).

But, as we all know, the fad stuck. Despite the detractors.

A number of British WWI officers, for instance, had two middle names. Examples include Frederick Charles Doveton Sturdee (b. 1859) and Berkeley George Andrew Moynihan (b. 1865).

And Prince William, married just the other day, has three middle names: Arthur, Philip and Louis. So does his brother, Prince Harry: Charles, Albert and David.

Do you know anyone with more than one middle name? (No problem if the person isn’t British and/or a member of the upper class.)

Sources:

  • Bardsley, Charles Wareing Endell. Curiosities of Puritan Nomenclature. London: Chatto & Windus, 1897.
  • Jesse, John Heneage. George Selwyn and His Contemporaries. Vol. 1. London: John C. Nimmo, 1901.

Edgar Allan Poe names: Lenore, Ligeia, Prospero

Writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)
Edgar Allan Poe

The godfather of Gothic fiction, Edgar Allan Poe, was born 202 years ago today.

He may have been master of the macabre, but he wrote widely — far beyond horror. His other works fall into genres such as humor/satire, science fiction, detective fiction, and adventure fiction.

To celebrate Poe’s birthday, let’s check out some of the character names he used in his short stories, poetry, and longer works:

Girl Names

  • Ada, from the poem “Tamerlane” (1827)
  • Alessandra, from the play Politian (1835)
  • Annabel Lee, from the poem “Annabel Lee” (1849)
  • Annie, from the poem “For Annie” (1849) and the short story “Landor’s Cottage” (1849)
  • Arabella, from the short story “The Man That Was Used Up” (1839)
  • Berenice, from the short story “Berenice” (1835)
  • Camille, from the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Eleonora, from the short story “Eleonora” (1842)
  • Ermengarde, from the short story “Eleonora” (1842)
  • Estelle, from the short story “The Mystery of Marie Roget” (1842)
  • Eugenie, from the short stories “The Spectacles” (1844) and “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether” (1845)
  • Eulalie, from the poem “Eulalie – A Song” (1845)
  • Evangeline, from the poem “Evangeline” (1848)
  • Fanny, from the poem “Fanny” (1833)
  • Grettel, from the short story “The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall” (1835)
  • Helen, from the poems “To Helen” (1831) and “To Helen” (1849)
  • Ianthe, from the poem “Al Aaraaf” (1829)
  • Isabel, from the poem “Fairy-Land” (1829)
  • Jacinta, from the play Politian (1835)
  • Jane, from the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840)
  • Kate, from the short story “Three Sundays in a Week” (1841)
  • Kathleen, from the short story “The Man That Was Used Up” (1839)
  • Lalage, from the play Politian (1835)
  • Lenore, from the poems “Lenore” (1843) and “The Raven” (1845)
  • Ligeia, from the poem “Al Aaraaf” (1829) and the short story “Ligeia” (1838)
  • Madeline, from the short story “The Fall of the House of Usher” (1839)
  • Marian, from the short story “The Oblong Box” (1844)
  • Marie, from the short story “The Mystery of Marie Roget” (1842)
  • Miranda, from the short story “The Man That Was Used Up” (1839)
  • Morella, from the short story “Morella” (1835)
  • Pauline, from the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Psyche, from the short story “A Predicament” (1838)
  • Rowena, from the short story “Ligeia” (1838)
  • Stephanie, from the short story “The Spectacles” (1844)
  • Tabitha, from the piece “How to Write a Blackwood Article” (1838) and the short story “The Man That Was Used Up” (1839)
  • Ulalume (rhymes with tomb), from the poem “Ulalume” (1847)
  • Una, from the short story “The Colloquy of Monos and Una” (1841)
  • Zanthe, from the poem “Al Aaraaf” (1829)
"The Cask of Amontillado" illustration by Harry Clarke
“The Cask of Amontillado”

Boy names

  • Adolphe, from the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Adolphus, from the short story “The Spectacles” (1844)
  • Alberto, from the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Alexander, from the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840)
  • Alexandre, from the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Alfonzo, from the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Andrew, from the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840)
  • Angelo, from the poem “Al Aaraaf” (1829)
  • Arthur, from the novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838) and the short story “Some Words with a Mummy” (1845)
  • Auguste, from the short stories “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841), “The Mystery of Marie Roget” (1842), and “The Purloined Letter” (1844)
  • Augustus, from the novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838) and the short story “A Tale of the Ragged Mountains” (1844)
  • Baldazzar, from the play Politian (1835)
  • Barnabas, from the short story “Thou Art the Man” (1844)
  • Benito, from the play Politian (1835)
  • Charles, from the short story “Thou Art the Man” (1844)
  • Cornelius, from the short story “The Oblong Box” (1844)
  • Dirk, from the novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838)
  • Egaeus, from the short story “Berenice” (1835)
  • Emmet, from the novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838)
  • Ernest, from the short story “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar” (1845)
  • Ethelred, from the short story “The Fall of the House of Usher” (1839)
  • Fortunato, from the short story “The Cask of Amontillado” (1846)
  • Frank, from the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840)
  • Frederick, from the short story “Metzengerstein” (1832)
  • Gordon, from the novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838)
  • Hans, from the short story “The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall” (1835)
  • Henri, from the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Isidore, from the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Israfel, from the poem “Israfel” (1831)
  • Jacques, from the short story “The Mystery of Marie Roget” (1842)
  • James, from the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840)
  • John, from the short story “The Man That Was Used Up” (1839) and the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840)
  • Jules, from the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Julius, from the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840)
  • Jupiter, from the short story “The Gold-Bug” (1843)
  • Meredith, from the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840)
  • Napoleon, from the short story “The Spectacles” (1844)
  • Paul, from the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Pedro, from the short story “The Oval Portrait” (1842)
  • Peter, from the novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838) and the short story “The Business Man” (1840)
  • Pierre, from the short story “Bon-Bon” (1832), the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840), and the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Poindexter, from the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840)
  • Politian, from the play Politian (1835)
  • Prospero, from the short story “The Masque of the Red Death” (1842)
  • Richard, from the novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838)
  • Robert, from the novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838) and the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840)
  • Roderick, from the short story “The Fall of the House of Usher” (1839)
  • Rupert, from the play Politian (1835)
  • Tamerlane, from the poem “Tamerlane” (1827)
  • Theodore, from the short story “The Man That Was Used Up” (1839)
  • Toby, from the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840) and the short story “Never Bet the Devil Your Head” (1841)
  • Ugo, from the play Politian (1835)
  • Victor, from the short story “The Spectacles” (1844)
  • William, from the short stories “William Wilson” (1839), “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841), and “The Gold-Bug” (1843)
  • Zoilus, from the short story “Shadow – A Parable” (1835)

Though they aren’t character names, Raven and Poe could be added to this list as well, as both are closely associated with Edgar Allan Poe. And both are bird-related, incidentally: the surname Poe can be traced back to the Middle English word for “peacock.”

Which of the above names do you like best? Which would you considering using in real life?

Sources:

[Latest update: Oct. 2022]