1892, Robert Grant,The Reflections of a Married Man, Scribner, pages98–99:
When I referred to the confusion which would result from the presence in the house of two people with the same name, she tossed her head and said it would be easy to obviate that by calling me Frederick instead ofFred.[…] Imagine Harry Bolles and other kindred spirits calling me stiff, august Frederick! I vowed that this should not be brought to pass[…]
2002, Fred Hill,You May as Well Laugh: The Columns of Fred Hill, iUniverse,→ISBN, page59:
I had great parents, but they made one major mistake. They named meFred. I'm sorry in case otherFreds read this, butFred is a rather weak name. It just sort of fades away on the tongue. It's not positive like Matt or Jim or Mike or Luke.
2001, Andrew Albright, “World Championships (was Re: What is John Eustice cycling backround?[sic]”, inrec.bicycles.racing (Usenet):
Here we have several World Championships every week. There is 'Hill Worlds', and then some other ones. What happens a lot of time[sic] is that only a few people who race show up, and you can have your way with the majority ofFreds who do the ride (Hill Worlds is fun because people can't wheelsuck).
2014, Tim Lewis,Land of Second Chances: The Impossible Rise of Rwanda's Cycling Team:
They called them 'Freds', a pejorative term that implied they were middle-aged and dowdy, and sniped that their only talent was staying awake for long periods. After it had been running for a couple of years, one of Jock's friends challenged him to put theFreds in their place. Jock, his competitive spirit pricked, agreed.
