Fryda
A feminine given name of uncertain origin, possibly derived from the Old Norse word "fríðr" meaning "beautiful".
Name Census estimates that about 135 living Americans carry the first name Fryda. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Fryda today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Fryda births was 2006 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Fryda. 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.
People living today
135
~ 1 in 2,538,921 Americans
Peak year
2006
15 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2018 SSA rank
#16,483
Tracked since 1998
Census
Fryda in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 177 people with the first name Fryda, which placed it at #41,393 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
#41,393
National first-name rank
People counted
177
177 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
85.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Fryda
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Fryda is Hispanic at 85.9%. The next largest groups are White (10.7%) and Two or More Races (1.7%). 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 Fryda 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 Fryda at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino85.9% · 152
- White10.7% · 19
- Two or more races1.7% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 2
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 1
Popularity
Fryda: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Fryda from the 1990s through to the 2010s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 82 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Fryda remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Fryda 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 Fryda during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Frydas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Fryda
The name Fryda is of Old Norse origin, derived from the Old Norse word "fríðr" meaning "beautiful" or "lovely." It emerged during the Viking Age, around the 8th to 11th centuries AD, and was particularly popular among the Norse settlers in Scandinavia and parts of northern Europe.
In ancient Norse mythology, the name Fryda is associated with the goddess Freyja, the goddess of love, beauty, and fertility. Freyja was one of the most revered deities in the Norse pantheon, and her name is closely related to the word "fríðr," from which Fryda is derived.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Fryda can be traced back to ancient Norse sagas and legends. One notable bearer of the name was Fryda Eriksdottir, a Danish noblewoman who lived in the 12th century and was known for her beauty and intelligence.
Throughout history, several prominent individuals have borne the name Fryda. In the 13th century, Fryda of Kyndby was a Danish landowner and one of the wealthiest women in medieval Denmark. Another notable figure was Fryda Dyrhauge, a Norwegian nun and abbess who lived in the 15th century and played an essential role in the reform of the church in Norway.
In the 16th century, Fryda Løvenskiold was a Norwegian noble and landowner who inherited extensive estates and played a significant role in the governance of her lands. In the 18th century, Fryda Munch was a Norwegian painter and one of the earliest female artists in Norway.
Another notable bearer of the name was Fryda Kahlo, a Swedish-Mexican artist and the wife of the renowned Mexican painter Diego Rivera. She was born in 1907 and is considered one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, known for her bold and vibrant self-portraits.
While the name Fryda is not as common today as it once was, it remains a beautiful and historically significant name with deep roots in Norse culture and mythology.
People
Fryda + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Fryda 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
Fryda: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Fryda?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 135 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Fryda 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 2,538,921 US residents.
Is Fryda a common name?
We classify Fryda as "Very Rare". It ranks above 68.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 137 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Fryda most popular?
The single biggest year for Fryda was 2006, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Fryda is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Fryda in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 177 people with the name Fryda, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #41,393 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 Fryda 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 Fryda?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Fryda appears almost entirely female. Of the 170 people counted with this name, 99.4% 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 Fryda?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Fryda is Hispanic at 85.9%. The next largest groups are White (10.7%) and Two or More Races (1.7%). 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 Fryda most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Fryda in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.9% (152 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 Fryda in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Fryda a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Fryda 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 Fryda still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Fryda 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 Fryda 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 common is the name Fryda?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.