Freya is an

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

feminine

given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a f ...

derived from the name of the Old Norse word for noble lady (

Freyja In Norse mythology, Freyja (Old Norse "(the) Lady") is a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, gold, and seiðr (magic for seeing and influencing the future). Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a char ...

). The

theonym A theonym (from Greek (), 'god', attached to (), ) is a proper name of a deity. Theonymy, the study of divine proper names, is a branch of onomastics, the study of the etymology, history, and use of proper names. Theonymy helps develop an und ...

of the goddess ''Freyja'' is thus considered to have been an

epithet An epithet (, ), also a byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) commonly accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a real or fictitious person, place, or thing. It is usually literally descriptive, as in Alfred the Great, Suleima ...

in origin, replacing a personal name that is now unattested. Freya, along with its variants, has been a popular name in recent years in

English-speaking The English-speaking world comprises the 88 countries and territories in which English is an official, administrative, or cultural language. In the early 2000s, between one and two billion people spoke English, making it the largest language ...

countries, Germany, and Scandinavian countries.

Notable people

* Freya Adams, American actress *

Freya Allan Freya Allan (born 20 September 2001) is an English actress. She is best known for her role as Princess Cirilla of Cintra in the Netflix series ''The Witcher (TV series), The Witcher'', for which she was nominated for two Saturn Awards, and as M ...

, English actress *

Freya Anderson Freya Ann Alexandra Anderson (born 4 March 2001) is a British swimmer, known primarily for her achievements as a freestyle sprinter, especially as a relay swimmer for Great Britain. Anderson achieved nine relay gold medals at three editions of ...

, English freestyle swimmer *

Freya Aswynn Elizabeth Hooijschuur (born November 1949), known by her pen name Freya Aswynn, is a Dutch writer and musician, primarily known for her activities related to modern paganism in the United Kingdom. She was an early exponent of a form of Germanic neo ...

, Dutch neopagan *

Freya Blackwood Freya Blackwood (born 1975) is an Australian illustrator and special effects artist. She worked on special effects for The Lord of the Rings film trilogy from 2001 to 2003 and won the Kate Greenaway Medal for British children's book illustration ...

, Australian Illustrator * Freja Beha Erichsen, Danish model * Audrey Freyja Clarke, Icelandic figure skater *

Freya Clausen Freya Christine Clausen (born 17 November 1978), also known as Freya, is a Danish singer/songwriter and television personality, based in Copenhagen. She worked as an MTV VJ, then moved to VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) ...

, Danish singer/songwriter known also by the mononym Freya *

Freya Waley-Cohen Freya Waley-Cohen (born 20 February 1989) is a British-American composer based in London. Biography Waley-Cohen grew up in an arts-oriented family. Her mother is the American sculptor Josie Spencer and her father is English theatre manager and pr ...

(born 1989), British-American composer *

Freya Hoffmeister Freya Hoffmeister (born 10 May 1964) is a German business owner and athlete who holds several sea kayaking endurance records. In 2009 she completed a circumnavigation of Australia solo and unassisted, becoming the first woman and only the seco ...

, German sea kayaker *

Freya Jayawardana Raden Roro Freyanashifa Jayawardana (born February 13, 2006), known professionally as Freya Jayawardana and mononymously as Freya, is an Indonesian singer, dancer, actress, and member of the seventh generation of the JKT48 idol group, introd ...

, Indonesian singer and dancer known also member of Mataram royal family *

Freya Kemp Freya Grace Kemp (born 21 April 2005) is an English cricketer who currently plays for Sussex and Southern Brave. An all-rounder, she plays as a left-arm medium bowler and left-handed batter. She made her international debut for the England wom ...

(born 2005), English cricketer *

Freya Klier Freya Klier (born 4 February 1950) is a German author and film director. Before 1989/90, she was an East German civil rights activist. Life Early years and confrontations with state authority Freya Klier was born in Dresden, the child of w ...

, German author and film director *

Freya Lim Freya Lim (; born 20 November 1979), also known as Freya Lin, is a Malaysian Mandopop singer and radio deejay based in Taiwan. She is a Taiwanese PR. Her father is a Chinese Malaysian and her mother is a Taiwanese. In 2002, Lim graduated from ...

, Taiwanese singer *

Freya Manfred Freya Manfred (born November 28, 1944, in Minneapolis, Minnesota), is a modern American poet. She is the oldest child of American novelist Frederick Manfred (Feike Feikema) and Maryanna Shorba Manfred. Her younger siblings are Marya Manfred and ...

, American poet *

Freya Mathews Freya Mathews is an Australian environmental philosopher whose main work has been in the areas of ecological metaphysics and panpsychism. Her current special interests are in ecological civilization; indigenous (Australian and Chinese) pers ...

, Australian philosopher and author *

Freya Mavor Freya Mavor (born 13 August 1993) is a Scottish actress. She is best known for her roles as Mini McGuinness in the E4 (TV channel), E4 teen drama ''Skins (British TV series), Skins'' and Daria Greenock in the HBO finance drama series ''Industry ...

(born 1993), Scottish actress and model * Freya North, English novelist *

Freya Ostapovitch Freya Ostapovitch (born 24 February 1956) is an Australian Liberal National politician who was the member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of ...

(born 1956), Australian politician * Freya Piryns, Belgian politician *

Freya Ridings Freya Olivia Rose Ridings (born 19 April 1994) is an English singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Ridings rose to prominence in 2017 with her ballad, " Lost Without You", which became a top ten hit on the UK Singles Chart. She followe ...

, English singer-songwriter *

Freya Ross Freya Ross (née Murray, born 20 September 1983) is a Scottish long-distance runner who competed in the Marathon at the London 2012 Olympics. She mainly competed in road races, but was also successful on the track competing in 5000 metres and 10 ...

, Scottish long-distance runner *

Freya Stafford Freya Stafford (born 21 January 1977) is an Australian actress who has appeared in the television programs '' Head Start'' and ''White Collar Blue'' as central characters. Early life Stafford was born in Sydney, New South Wales. In 1982 her fam ...

, Australian actress *

Freya Stark Dame Freya Madeline Stark (31 January 18939 May 1993) was a British-Italian explorer and travel writer. She wrote more than two dozen books on her travels in the Middle East and Afghanistan as well as several autobiographical works and essays. ...

(1893–1993), Anglo-Italian explorer and travel writer *

Freya Tingley Freya Tingley (born 26 March 1994) is an Australian actress. She is best known for her roles as Wendy Darling in the series ''Once Upon a Time (TV series), Once Upon A Time'', Christina Wendall in the Netflix series ''Hemlock Grove'', and Fran ...

, Australian actress *

Freya Van den Bossche Freya Van den Bossche (born 26 March 1975) is a Belgian ( Flemish) politician and daughter of prominent former Belgian politician Luc Van den Bossche. She is member of the SP.a political party, and she was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister o ...

, Belgian Flemish politician *

Freya von Moltke Freya von Moltke (née Deichmann; 29 March 1911 – 1 January 2010) was a German American lawyer and participant in the anti-Nazism, Nazi opposition group, the Kreisau Circle, with her husband, Helmuth James von Moltke. During World War II, h ...

(1911–2010), German anti-Nazi resistance group member

Fictional Characters

* Princess Freya, character in the 2016 American fantasy action-adventure film, '' The Huntsman: Winter's War'' *

Freya Beauchamp The following is a list of characters from the Lifetime supernatural drama ''Witches of East End'', based on the book of the same name by Melissa de la Cruz. The series centers on a family of immortal witches known as the Beauchamps: Joanna (pla ...

, character in American television series based on the 2011 novel of the same name, ''Witches of East End'' * Freya Crescent, main fictional character in the 2000 video game, ''

Final Fantasy IX is a 2000 role-playing video game developed and published by Square (video game company), Square for the PlayStation (console), PlayStation video game console. It is the ninth game in the main ''Final Fantasy'' series. The plot focuses on a wa ...

'' * Freya Gardner, fictional character in the British television miniseries, '' The Politician's Husband'' * Freya Mikaelson, re-occurring fictional character from the American fantasy-drama television series, '' The Originals'' * Freya Wilson, fictional character from the BBC soap opera, ''

Doctors Doctor, Doctors, The Doctor or The Doctors may refer to: Titles and occupations * Physician, a medical practitioner * Doctor (title), an academic title for the holder of a doctoral-level degree ** Doctorate ** List of doctoral degrees awarded b ...

'' *

Freya Wozniak ''Neighbours'' is an Australian television soap opera. It was first broadcast on 18 March 1985 and airs on digital channel 10 Peach. The following is a list of characters that first appear in the show in 2022, by order of first appearance. All ch ...

, fictional character from the Australian television soap opera, ''

Neighbours ''Neighbours'' is an Australian television soap opera that has aired since 18 March 1985. It was created by television executive Reg Watson. The Seven Network commissioned the show following the success of Watson's earlier soap '' Sons and ...

References

{{given name Feminine given names Old Norse personal names