Earlier this month, Jill Duggar and Derick Dillard welcomed their third child, a boy they named Frederick Michael Dillard.
As Jill explained at the time, “Frederick means ‘Peaceful Ruler’ and Michael means ‘Gift from God.’”
Little Freddie might have a bright future as a peaceful ruler of something or other, but for now, he’s just an infant.
And while providing wise governance for a large nation might a challenge he’ll face somewhere down the line, for now, he’s probably focusing on more modest tasks like learning to roll over.
Slow and steady wins the race, of course, and Freddie already has a major advantage over some of his cousins, as he was born into one of the more sane branches of the Duggar family.
King Frederick crossed one major item off his to-do list this week when he joined his family on his very first ice cream outing.
If you’re a longtime follower of the Duggar family then you know that the Braum’s chain of ice cream parlors play a big role in their lives.
So when it came time for Freddie to venture out of the house with his siblings for the first time, the choice of destination was a no-brainer.
“Our first outing as a family of 5! …and it had to be to Braum’s for frozen yogurt!” Jill wrote on Instagram.
She documented the occasion for her followers, and it looks like everything went smoothly.
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Like most members of her family, Jill has been keeping a lower profile in the months since her brother, Josh Duggar, was convicted on child pornography charges.
Jill was one of Josh’s first victims, and it makes sense that she would want to avoid the spotlight for a while.
But Jill re-emerged during her pregnancy, and she has delighted in providing fans with updates on her newest bundle of joy.
“The name Frederick also holds special meaning for us since it’s Derick’s name with ‘Fre’ added to the front, to make ‘Fre-derick,’” the mother of three wrote on Instagram shortly after Freddie’s birth.
“Similarly, Derick’s name is a variation of his late dad’s name, Rick, that his parents created by adding ‘de’ to the front of Rick to spell, ‘De-rick,’ literally meaning ‘son of’ (de) Rick,” she continued.
“We were excited to settle on the name Frederick and incorporate both Derick’s and his dad’s name, by just adding ‘Fre’ to the beginning of Derick’s name.”
Sometimes when people go into too much detail explaining the meaning behind their kids’ names it’s like when folks start blathering on about the symbolism of their tattoos:
Too much explanation makes you feel like they’re not confident in their decision.
You can just say “it thought it looked/sounded cool” and move on.
Besides Frederick or Freddie is a perfectly decent name for a young lad.
If Jill is worried about being judged harshly, she should just remind herself that Jessa has a kid named Spurgeon.
Now, THAT’S the sort of name that requires an explanation!
Jessa has one, of course, but no one really cares, because ultimately, the only thing that’s truly important about a name is how it sounds.
