Family name origins & meanings
- English : from Old French and Middle English frere ‘friar’ (Latin frater, literally ‘brother’). This was a status name for a member a religious order, especially a mendicant order, and may also have been a nickname for a pious person or for someone employed at a monastery.
- Americanized spelling of French Frère (see Frere).
- North German and Dutch : cognate of Friedrich.