Fredrik

Fredrik is derived from the Germanic name Friedrich or Friederich, from the Old High German fridu meaning "peace" and rîhhi meaning "ruler" or "power". It is the common form of Frederick in Norway, Finland and Sweden. The name means "peaceful ruler" The most common variant spelling of this name is Frederik, although the English spelling Frederick is more common than either. Fredrik replaced the Anglo-Saxon name Freodheric, and has been a rare first name in England since this time.

In Sweden, Fredrik first fell into usage in the 14th century, and became increasingly common after the 18th century. It is the 19th most popular male name in Sweden and the 41st most popular in Norway. It has a name day in Sweden, on July 18. Common diminutive forms include: Fred, Frillo, Fredde, Freddy and Rikke. The form Freddie is considered feminine by the British, diminutive of for instance Fredrika.

Notable people with this name

Fredrik Eklund

Fredrik Eklund (born April 26, 1977 in Stockholm, Sweden) is a New York City real estate broker, a Bravo TV reality star, a former IT entrepreneur in his native Sweden, and a novelist.

Early life

Eklund is the brother of author Sigge Eklund and the son of Klas Eklund, who is a senior economist at Swedish bank SEB. His paternal grandparents were Swedish-Danish-Irish-Russian actors Bengt Eklund and Fylgia Zadig.

Fredrik had his first American experience as a foreign exchange student in Edina, Minnesota, where he attended Edina High School. After finishing high school, Eklund studied at the Stockholm School of Economics, but never graduated. He has worked for the financial newspaper Finanstidningen. At the age of 23, Eklund founded an Internet company with over 45 employees, and went on to work for the investment bank SEB in Stockholm, London, Singapore and Tokyo before beginning his work in New York City.

Real estate career

Eklund has closed over two billion dollars in residential real estate. Eklund became Managing Director at the New York City real estate firm CORE Group Marketing and in 2010, alongside his business partner John Gomes, Managing Director at Prudential Douglas Elliman - the largest real estate brokerage on the East Coast. Eklund has also started the top-selling team at Elliman.

CrossFit Games

The CrossFit Games is an athletic competition sponsored by Crossfit Inc. The competition has been held every summer since 2007. Athletes at the Games compete in workouts they learn about only hours beforehand, mostly comprising an assortment of standard aerobic, weightlifting, and gymnastics movements, as well as surprise elements that are not part of the typical CrossFit regimen such as an ocean swim, a short triathlon, or a softball throw. The Games are styled as a venue for determining the "Fittest on Earth," where competitors should be "ready for anything."

History

In 2011, the Games adopted an online format for the first stage of the qualification process, called the "CrossFit Open", to facilitate participation by athletes worldwide. Prior to the introduction of the Open, the preponderance of competitors were American (though the 2009 individual men's champion, Mikko Salo, is from Finland, and the 2010 women's runner-up, Annie Thorisdottir, is from Iceland). During the Open, a new workout is released each week on Thursday night and athletes have until Monday evening (Pacific Time) to complete the workout and submit their scores online, with either a video or validation by a CrossFit affiliate. Beginning in 2013, CrossFit began airing live announcements for the Open workouts and would have past CrossFit Games athletes immediately complete the workout in a head-to-head competition. The top CrossFit Open performers in each region advance to the regional events, held over the following two months; the top performers from these regional competitions go to the CrossFit Games, which in recent years have been held at the StubHub Center in Carson, CA.

Bethenny Frankel

Bethenny Frankel (born November 4, 1970) is an American reality television personality, talk show host, author, chef, and entrepreneur. She founded Skinnygirl Cocktails, authored four self-help books and hosted the talk show, Bethenny. Frankel has appeared on The Apprentice: Martha Stewart, The Real Housewives of New York City and was the subject of the reality television series Bethenny Ever After.

Early life

Frankel is the only child of Robert J. Frankel and Bernadette Birk, an interior designer. Her father was Jewish and her mother was a Roman Catholic of Welsh descent, who converted to Judaism when the couple married. Her father left her mother when Frankel was four years old and when she was five, her mother married another horse trainer, John Parisella. She describes her childhood as difficult. Her biological father stopped supporting the family and her mother, Frankel says, "was always drinking" and often argued violently with her stepfather.

Frankel said she moved many times and attended multiple schools before going to boarding school. Frankel graduated in 1988 from the Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida where she lived on campus. She attended the Natural Gourmet Institute in New York City, and New York University.