Freya

Freya meaning

Freya is an international girl's name of Old Norse origin.

Lady; properly the goddess Freyja

Also used to mean: noblewoman

Freya is the English spelling of Freyja, the Norse goddess of love, beauty, fertility and magic. Cleasby and Vigfusson's Old Norse dictionary gives freyja as "a lady", as in hús-freyja, the mistress of a house, and properly as the name of the goddess in the Edda. The word was originally the feminine of Freyr, "lord", the name of her twin brother, a god of plenty. In the Norse poems Freyja rides in a chariot drawn by cats and owns a necklace called Brísingamen. She is a different goddess from Frigg, after whom Friday is named. Freya is pronounced FRAY-uh.

Source: Cleasby & Vigfusson, An Icelandic–English Dictionary (1874), via oldnorsedictionary.com, s.v. freyja · entry freyja · See the entry · checked 25 Oct 2026

References: Cleasby-Vigfusson, freyja (oldnorsedictionary.com) · Cleasby-Vigfusson, frú (oldnorsedictionary.com) · Wikipedia, Freyja · Bosworth-Toller, Frig-dæg (Friday)

Famous namesakes

• Freyja, Norse goddess of love

Popularity abroad

• #176 United States, girls 2025 (down 16 from 160 in 2024)
  US Social Security Administration
• #6 England and Wales, girls 2025
  Office for National Statistics

Official birth registrations. India publishes no national name statistics.

Spellings

Freya · Freyja · Freja · Freia

Related names

Also meaning goddess

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