Freyja
A feminine name of Norse origin meaning "noble lady" or "lady".
Name Census estimates that about 3,476 living Americans carry the first name Freyja. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Freyja today is around 7 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Freyja births was 2023 (473 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Freyja. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Freyja with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Freyja is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 7 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
3.5K
~ 1 in 98,606 Americans
Peak year
2023
473 babies that year
Average age
7
years old
2024 SSA rank
#771
Tracked since 1994
Census
Freyja in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,447 people with the first name Freyja, which placed it at #9,556 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#9,556
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,447 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
78.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Freyja
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Freyja is White at 78.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (9.5%) and Hispanic (8.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Freyja described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Freyja at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White78.5% · 1,136
- Two or more races9.5% · 138
- Hispanic or Latino8.6% · 124
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 25
- Black or African American1.2% · 17
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 7
Popularity
Freyja: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Freyja from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 1,977 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Freyja by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Freyja during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Freyjas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 42 states and territories. California, Washington, Texas recorded the most babies named Freyja, while South Dakota, Louisiana, Connecticut recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 62 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Freyja
Freyja is a feminine given name of Old Norse origin, derived from the name of the Norse goddess of love, beauty, and fertility, Freyja. The name is believed to have emerged during the Viking Age, around the 8th to 11th centuries CE, when the Norse pagans worshipped a pantheon of gods and goddesses.
The name Freyja is thought to be related to the Old Norse word "fró," which means "lady" or "mistress." It is also associated with the Old Norse word "frjó," meaning "seed" or "offspring," reflecting Freyja's role as a fertility goddess. The name is sometimes spelled as Freya or Freyia, depending on the language and cultural context.
Freyja was a prominent figure in Norse mythology, and her name appears in various ancient texts and sagas, such as the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda, which were compiled in the 13th century CE. These texts describe Freyja as the daughter of the sea god Njörðr and the sister of the fertility god Freyr. She was revered for her beauty, her ability to inspire love, and her power over fertility and childbirth.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Freyja dates back to the 9th century CE, when a Swedish woman named Freyja was mentioned in the Saga of the Jómsvikings. Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Freyja, including:
1. Freyja Haraldsóttir (c. 975 – c. 1050), a Norwegian noblewoman and the daughter of King Harald Greyhide.
2. Freyja Eriksdotter (c. 1250 – c. 1310), a Swedish princess and the daughter of King Eric XI of Sweden.
3. Freyja Gunnarsdóttir (c. 1530 – c. 1590), an Icelandic poet and one of the few known female poets of the Icelandic Renaissance.
4. Freyja von Moltke (1852 – 1935), a German writer and social activist, known for her efforts in promoting women's rights and education.
5. Freyja Víðarsdóttir (1980 – present), an Icelandic actress and television personality, known for her roles in Icelandic films and TV series.
The name Freyja has remained popular among Scandinavian and Germanic cultures, and it continues to be used as a given name in various parts of the world, particularly in regions with strong Norse cultural influences or connections.
People
Freyja + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Freyja as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with F
Other first names starting with F with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Freyja: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Freyja?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,476 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Freyja going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 98,606 US residents.
Is Freyja a common name?
We classify Freyja as "Rare". It ranks above 95.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,499 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Freyja most popular?
The single biggest year for Freyja was 2023, when 473 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Freyja is about 7 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Freyja in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,447 people with the name Freyja, or 0.48 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,556 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Freyja in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Freyja?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Freyja appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,442 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Freyja?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Freyja is White at 78.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (9.5%) and Hispanic (8.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Freyja most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Freyja in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.5% (1,136 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Freyja in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Freyja a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Freyja in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Freyja still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Freyja in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Freyja can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Freyja?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Freyja at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.