STAR Magazine, March 11, 1986 Fred’s No Tom, Dick or Harry HE GOT tired of hearing schoolmates ridicule him with taunts of 'Hey Fray-yud.' He couldn’t stand it when dated asked? "Your name is Fred? Really?" then burst out laughing. So Fred Daniel, 31, a graphic artist from Garden Grove, Calif., founded The FRED Society five years ago to promote the name. "Can you hear Fred Rambo, Fred Springsteen, Fred Skywalker? No way, people wouldn’t accept it," he says. "But what about Frederick the Great or Fredrick Chopin?" "Nowadays, nobody remembers the great Fred of the world," says Fred. "There are too many negative Fred associations. There’s Fred Mertz from I Love Lucy, Red Skelton’s derelict, Freddie the Freeloader, and Fred who should have used Federal Express." "So out of frustration, I decided to take up arms against anti-Fredism. I designed FRED Society T-shirts and bumper stickers and started sending out flyers." "The T-shirts have The FRED Society logo, with the name Fred in huge, red type - very clean, contemporary and positive looking." "The club s really growing. We have about 350 members* as of now, and in the last few weeks, responses have picked up so much that it’s been a full-time job for me." *2006 update: Membership is now over 5,000 Freds and growing strong!