Froilán
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Meaning
lord, master (Germanic frauja, possibly Visigothic); borne by the 9th-century patron saint of Lugo and, in the headlines, by a grandson of King Juan Carlos I
The story
Froilán comes from a Germanic root frauja, lord, master, possibly by way of the Visigoths or the Suebi, and it belongs to one saint and one city. Froilán of Lugo, born 833, became bishop of León and died around 904; he is patron of the province of Lugo and the diocese of León, and his feast anchors the Fiestas de San Froilán, celebrated in Lugo since 1754 and ranked among Spain's Festivals of National Tourist Interest, days that include O Domingo das Mozas, the Sunday devoted to traditional Galician dress. Spain's press knows a younger bearer: Felipe Juan Froilán de Marichalar y Borbón, grandson of King Juan Carlos I, known to every headline simply as Froilán. The record books elsewhere barely register the name; Brazil's census found just 60. Some names belong to everyone; this one belongs to a festival.
How popular is Froilán around the world?
Froilán does not appear in US Social Security baby-name records, which list only names given to at least five babies in a year. There is no popularity curve to chart: a genuinely rare pick. In Spain, 693 residents are named Froilán, ranked 1,830th among men, with a mean age of 59.3 years.
Froilán is on the official records of Spain, Chile and Brazil.
United States
under 5 a year
Froilán does not appear in US Social Security baby-name records, which list only names given to at least five babies in a year. There is no popularity curve to chart: a genuinely rare pick.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Spain
1 in 65,000
In Spain, 693 residents are named Froilán, ranked 1,830th among men, with a mean age of 59.3 years.
Residents of Spain on 1 January 2025. Spain publishes how old a name’s living bearers are, not a birth series, so there is no year chart. Source: INE (Spain), Censo de Población anual, 1 January 2025
Chile
1 in 180,000
In Chile, 1 boy was registered as Froilán in 2021, every accent spelling counted together.
share of that year’s name registrations
First-name registrations with Chile’s civil registry by year of registration, 1920–2021, counted as spelling groups (Sofía, Sofia and Sofìa are one name, shown with its most-registered spelling); the registry withholds nothing, nametree keeps the groups that reached 5 registrations in some year, and shares divide by every registration of the year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil e Identificación (Chile) via the guaguas package, first-name registrations 1920-2021
Argentina
last on record 2023
Froilán is not on the 2024 record for Argentina, where small counts are withheld at source.
share of that year’s name registrations
Given-name components of births in Argentina 2012–2024; national cells are lower bounds and no sex split is published. Source: RENAPER (Argentina), Dirección Nacional de Población, given names 2012-2024
Brazil
At the 2022 census, 60 people in Brazil were named Froilán, ranked 58,763rd, with a median age of 40.
People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
Mexico City City
last on record 2021
Froilán is not on the 2022 record for Mexico City, where small counts are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 6 in a year, too few to chart.
Civil-registry acts in Mexico City by registration year. Counts are lower bounds (names under 6 in a month and borough are removed at source) and count name-instances, not people; compound names are split, so “Maria Jose” counts under each part. 2023, a partial extract through 3 Mar with no cell on record for this name, is excluded. Source: Registro Civil of Mexico City, open data portal, registered given names 2000-2023
Montevideo City
last on record 1995
Froilán is not on the 2011 record for Montevideo, whose registry withholds nothing, so the spelling was not given there that year.
The count never rose above 3 in a year, too few to chart.
Births in the department of Montevideo (not all of Uruguay) by first name and year of birth, 1940–2011, from the city’s civil registry, which writes names in capitals, almost always without accents; counted as spelling groups (accent and punctuation variants merged), nothing is withheld at source, and 2012 is excluded as a partial year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil, Intendencia de Montevideo, Partidas de Registro Civil de Montevideo (Licencia de Datos Abiertos - Uruguay); 2012 dropped as partial
Not on the record in Puerto Rico, England and Wales, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the South Australia record for 1944 to 2017: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on the Austria record for 1984 to 2025: Statistik Austria publishes every first name down to a single birth, so this name was not given there in those years (before 2010 the record covers babies with Austrian citizenship only). Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
Keep exploring
The Froilán deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Froilán truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Froilán fits with your family’s names and surname.
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