A Man Named Fred and his Dad

I like the name ‘Fred’ for a Brazilian player. It’s simple and unique. It also is easy to pronounce in multiple languages.

It is so hillarious that people find his nickname funny. Isn’t it obvious that it is short for Frederic?

Let’s have a blast meeting more people with that name:

• Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin (aka just Chopin). His friends must have called him ‘Classy Fryd’, which I think it’s even funnier.

• Frédéric Boilet – French cartoonist: his friends can call him ‘Toilet Fred’, right? Sooo funnyyyyy!!!!

• Frédéric Bastiat – French economist: his friends could call him Freddy Bastiard. Lmao!!!

Willy and Joe must be having a great time up in the heavens!!! (Hannah and Barbera)

Humor is one of the best things on Earth!!! Keep it up!!! :)

Euler, is Fred, pronounced in Brazilian Portuguese “Fred” or “Fredjeh”? Or something else entirely? THanks!

Euler – Since the world cup is in Germany and the final is in the old Prussian capital then what would be more appropriate then the most famous Fred of all? Frederick the Great, King of Prussia also known as Der alte Fritz. By the way Euler was also a very famous German mathematician and the logorithmic e was named after him. I believe that Euler was the one responsible for solving the Koenigsberg bridge problem which had baffled mathematicians for centuries.

I think his full name is Fredinho..or something like that. :P

I believe Euler was Swiss.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euler

Its in Brazilian Portuguese: (simply) Fred.

His full name is Frederico Chaves Guedes.

http://www.sambafoot.com/en/players/995_Fred.html

Yeah, it’s funny people find it so distinct – it’s a common name around here, short for “Frederico”.

Not criticizing, just saying it’s such a common name that I never thought of it to be anything other than ordinary.

Exactly! :)

What I find odd is the number of Brazillians who drop their surnames and only use their first names.

It’s rather unique, and to put only your first name on the back of your jersey – unheard of!

Is dropping your surname common in Brazillian culture as a whole?

You are correct that Euler was born in Switzerland. He was born in Basil which is right on the border. So I was offside by a mile or less. My bad.

Wes, it is very common here in Brazil not to use the surname in most cases. I worked for a while in the Gillette office here in Rio and we never called our boss ‘mister Carlos’ for an example. I always called him ‘Roberto’ just as anybody else. It doesn’t matter if you are wearing a suit or not. His friensd would call him Robertinho probably.

I wrote a whole post about it:

http://brazil.worldcupblog.org/group-f/a-great-selection-of-nicknames.html

[...] This year’s Lyon squad is largely the same with a couple of additions in the midfield – Kim Kallstrom and Jeremy Toulalan. The team is still trying to pursue another forward or two to compliment everyone’s favorite Brazilian, the man named Fred. [...]