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Freeman

#4,071 in 2025Boys' name

Free man

Freeman has been given to 10,996 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #4,071 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1918, with 229 recorded.

Babies named Freeman, 2025

1 in 128,000

Freeman over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
010020030018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Freeman: meaning, origin, and history

Free man

surname transfer

What Freeman means

Freeman means “free man”.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

* Proprialisation of freeman. From originating as a freeman (instead of a serf, indentured, or some other status) * free + man. A surname taken up by freed slaves.

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Freeman (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Freeman is used in English. Its origins include surname transfer.

Freeman is recorded as a surname transferred into given-name use.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Freeman is pronounced /ˈfɹiː.mən/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 10,991 boys were recorded with the name Freeman between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 229 in 1918; its best national rank was #286 in 1889.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #4,179 in 2020 to #4,071 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #3,915 in 2015 to #4,071 in 2025.

In the United States, 5 girls were recorded with the name Freeman between 1921 and 1921. Its highest annual count was 5 in 1921; its best national rank was #5,407 in 1921.

How common is Freeman?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 128,000
26 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 65,700
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#4,071
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
88,382 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Freeman sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 88,382 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Freeman. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Freemans were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Freeman was born before 1938 — so the typical Freeman is around 87 today.

Median birth year
1938
About 87 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
17.3% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
7.2%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
4,091
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 17.3% of all recorded uses (1,898).

Is Freeman rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−440
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
+108
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
−156
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.96×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
11.4%
Peak was 1918 (229)
Years since peak
107
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
16.8% average annual change
Best rank ever
#286
1889

Spellings of Freeman

Freeman is the most-used spelling, taking 88.8% of the 12,374 babies given a near-identical spelling.

  • Freeman88.8%10,991
  • Ferman11.2%1,383

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Freeman is used

Across 1910–2025, Freeman was most concentrated in Alabama — about 1 in 5,882 boys, against 1 in 27,327 across all states with data. It was least common in Minnesota (1 in —).

017 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Alabama1 in 5,882
  2. 2Maine1 in 6,667
  3. 3Arkansas1 in 9,091
  4. 4Georgia1 in 9,091
  5. 5Tennessee1 in 10,000
  6. 6Mississippi1 in 11,111
  7. 7West Virginia1 in 11,111
  8. 8Kentucky1 in 12,500

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Freeman has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Freeman around the world

Where Freeman ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    2006–2015
    #4,747
    in 2015
  • France
    1999–2001
    #4,419
    in 2001
  • Canada
    1998–2008
    #2,611
    in 2008
  • South Australia
    1952–2002
    #606
    in 2002

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Freeman

People whose public names include Freeman, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Freeman by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#4,071
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 108
Best rank ever
#286
1889
Peak year
1918
229 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
10,991
Count in 2025
26

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#5,407
1921
Peak year
1921
5 that year
First recorded
1921
Last recorded
1921
All-time count
5
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Freeman

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

FredricFredericFreddyColemanFreddieGermanFredyTillmanTrumanFredrickShermanFreedomThurmanBenjimanLymanFredrikSolomanFremanSalmanFrederikArmanChapmanWhitmanSulaiman

Names with a curve like Freeman

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Freeman, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

HerschelBasilWiltonMervinBudVernHershelClementLenardWilfordLymanEmile

Sibling names for Freeman

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Freeman

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