Friedrich

name

Etymology: Etymology tree German Friedrichbor. English Friedrich Borrowed from German Friedrich.

1. A male given name from German, equivalent to English Frederick.

   “As it happened, also, the particular Friedrichs and Wilhelms whom he meant to see and confer with were out of town, or had moved their habitats, so that he could not easily find them. […] “I beg your pardon, but can you tell me where Friedrich Baum lives?””

   “The dour Friedrich Wilhelm I, never out of uniform, accumulating tax income from a dozen different unconstitutional sources, takes time out from drilling his grenadiers to smash an inefficient postillion over the head with his cane. The sleepless Friedrich der Grosse, an atheist Calvin, rises at 6 a.m. to write the day’s orders to his bureaucrats, a shining example to the world of “enlightened despotism.” Even the feckless Friedrich Wilhelm III, defeated by a French revolutionary army, appoints a minister to tell him “Your majesty must do from above what the French have done from below.” […] When the king contemplated (God forbid) his abdication on the issue, Bismarck threw himself into the breach, accepted the office of Chancellor, defied the parliament, and collected the tax, just as the Friedrichs and Wilhelms had done before the French Revolution interrupted the course of progress.”

2. A surname from German.

   “It has been learned that mr. blair maintains a second savings account, under the name george friedrich, at Leclair & Cie of Geneva, Switz. […] A search of the photo files showed of the George Friedriches in the United States who hold passports, none bears the remotest physical resemblance to Mr. Blair.”

   “We met our landlords-to-be, Frau and Herr Friedrich, themselves émigrés from the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia. […] When my mother arrived and we brought her to our attic home, she immediately made friends with our landlords and was able to converse in a form of German that the Friedriches easily understood.”