Freya
Freya was given to 1,746 girls in 2025, #176 among girls’ names; 19,821 Americans have been recorded with it since 1931 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 19,600 Americans named Freya and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (99% of everyone recorded); the median is 6 years old and half are between 3 and 9.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Freya by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Freya mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Freya is “a female given name from Old Norse of mostly British usage.” Its etymology gives the sense “mistress, lady” (Freyja).
Scottish form of Old Norse Freyja (“mistress, lady”).
/ˈfɹeɪə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Freya?
#176 among girls’ names, 2025
Freya rose from #416 in 2015 to #176 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 0.43 to 1.1 per 1,000.
2,183 babies in 2022, the peak
Freya peaked in 2022, when 2,183 girls were given it, #129 among girls’ names. The 1,746 births of 2025 are 80% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 1,746 | #176 | 1.1 |
| 2024 | 1,883 | #160 | 1.2 |
| 2023 | 2,074 | #136 | 1.3 |
| 2022 | 2,183 | #129 | 1.3 |
| 2021 | 1,869 | #152 | 1.1 |
| 2020 | 1,599 | #178 | 1.0 |
| 2019 | 1,521 | #199 | 0.91 |
| 2018 | 1,240 | #266 | 0.73 |
| 2017 | 1,078 | #305 | 0.62 |
| 2016 | 999 | #330 | 0.56 |
Every recorded year (82)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 770 | #416 | 0.43 |
| 2014 | 517 | #584 | 0.29 |
| 2013 | 281 | #910 | 0.16 |
| 2012 | 182 | #1,301 | 0.10 |
| 2011 | 207 | #1,174 | 0.12 |
| 2010 | 165 | #1,396 | 0.09 |
| 2009 | 125 | #1,745 | 0.07 |
| 2008 | 127 | #1,748 | 0.07 |
| 2007 | 110 | #1,887 | 0.06 |
| 2006 | 97 | #2,039 | 0.05 |
| 2005 | 67 | #2,558 | 0.04 |
| 2004 | 61 | #2,684 | 0.03 |
| 2003 | 57 | #2,742 | 0.03 |
| 2002 | 45 | #3,166 | 0.03 |
| 2001 | 49 | #2,929 | 0.03 |
| 2000 | 34 | #3,754 | 0.02 |
| 1999 | 25 | #4,488 | 0.01 |
| 1998 | 21 | #5,008 | 0.01 |
| 1997 | 16 | #5,971 | 0.01 |
| 1996 | 20 | #4,924 | 0.01 |
| 1995 | 23 | #4,388 | 0.01 |
| 1994 | 15 | #6,090 | 0.01 |
| 1993 | 12 | #7,172 | 0.01 |
| 1992 | 20 | #4,910 | 0.01 |
| 1991 | 19 | #5,043 | 0.01 |
| 1990 | 9 | #8,711 | under 0.01 |
| 1988 | 14 | #5,688 | 0.01 |
| 1987 | 19 | #4,349 | 0.01 |
| 1986 | 10 | #6,763 | 0.01 |
| 1985 | 14 | #5,149 | 0.01 |
| 1984 | 9 | #6,983 | 0.01 |
| 1983 | 7 | #8,316 | under 0.01 |
| 1982 | 14 | #5,015 | 0.01 |
| 1981 | 17 | #4,396 | 0.01 |
| 1980 | 17 | #4,387 | 0.01 |
| 1979 | 15 | #4,688 | 0.01 |
| 1978 | 13 | #5,013 | 0.01 |
| 1977 | 11 | #5,615 | 0.01 |
| 1976 | 11 | #5,329 | 0.01 |
| 1975 | 21 | #3,315 | 0.01 |
| 1974 | 16 | #3,914 | 0.01 |
| 1973 | 10 | #5,295 | 0.01 |
| 1972 | 18 | #3,439 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 7 | #6,829 | under 0.01 |
| 1970 | 9 | #5,529 | 0.01 |
| 1969 | 11 | #4,522 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 10 | #4,584 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 7 | #5,651 | under 0.01 |
| 1966 | 7 | #5,441 | under 0.01 |
| 1965 | 6 | #6,030 | under 0.01 |
| 1964 | 8 | #5,155 | under 0.01 |
| 1963 | 5 | #6,943 | under 0.01 |
| 1959 | 8 | #4,757 | under 0.01 |
| 1958 | 12 | #3,603 | 0.01 |
| 1957 | 10 | #4,017 | under 0.01 |
| 1956 | 8 | #4,573 | under 0.01 |
| 1954 | 7 | #4,827 | under 0.01 |
| 1953 | 7 | #4,730 | under 0.01 |
| 1951 | 11 | #3,342 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 7 | #4,452 | under 0.01 |
| 1949 | 5 | #5,508 | under 0.01 |
| 1948 | 8 | #3,987 | under 0.01 |
| 1947 | 19 | #2,304 | 0.01 |
| 1946 | 9 | #3,489 | 0.01 |
| 1945 | 14 | #2,375 | 0.01 |
| 1944 | 10 | #3,007 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 13 | #2,599 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 30 | #1,508 | 0.02 |
| 1941 | 31 | #1,396 | 0.03 |
| 1940 | 27 | #1,489 | 0.02 |
| 1939 | 8 | #3,235 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 5 | #4,577 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Freya a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Freya has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 82 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Freya: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Freya, and how old are they?
19,600 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 99% of the 19,821 Americans ever recorded as Freya. The median Freya alive today is 6 years old; half are between 3 and 9.
The 2020 Census counted 8,353 people named Freya (8,339 women and girls, 14 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 8,733 born in the U.S. The Census count is 4% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 64 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 93 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 176 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 216 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,380 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 17,700 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Freya born?
The states with the most babies named Freya are California, Texas and Florida, with 20% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 145 | #233 | 0.7× |
| Texas | 104 | #325 | 0.5× |
| Florida | 94 | #195 | 0.7× |
| Pennsylvania | 83 | #125 | 1.0× |
| Washington | 76 | #78 | 1.8× |
| New York | 69 | #245 | 0.7× |
| Ohio | 65 | #171 | 0.9× |
| Michigan | 63 | #133 | 1.1× |
| North Carolina | 60 | #174 | 0.8× |
| Virginia | 55 | #139 | 0.9× |
Where Freya is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Freya is most over-represented in Oregon: since 1931 it was given 1.9 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Freya with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 3 names spelled alike, given to 20,062 babies since 1880, Freya is the most given (99% of them). In 2025 it was given to 1,746 of their 1,751 babies (100%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Freya
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Freya and names like it
- Compare Freya and FreeBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sFreya peaked in 2022.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Freya since 1910.
- The top names of 2022The year the most babies were named Freya.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Freya alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with FMost given first.