The direct ancestors of our Fredericks and Fredericas are Freyer, the son of Niörder, one of the Wanes, a race of gods worshipped by the earlier inhabitants of Germany and Scandinavia, and his sister Freya, or, as she is variously called, Frea, Frey, Frealaf, Frigg and Frigga, the Queen of Heaven, who was elevated to the position of Odin's wife, and who bore him seven sons, who were the founders of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom.  Amongst the Germans she was worshipped as Mother Earth, and she had for her attendants Fulla, or Plenty, by some believed to be her sister, such a favourite was she; Gna her messenger, who, riding on her steed Hoof-flinger, with trappings all of gold, bore her mandates to the uttermost parts of the earth, and Hlyn the protectress of those who worshipped Freya and owned her power.
    Freya's palace was known as Fensaler, or Hall of the Sea, and by the dwellers on the coast Freya was looked upon as the ruler of the sea and protectress of ships.  To Fensaler, where a soft twilight always reigned, Freya would bring all sorrowing husbands and wives whom an early death had parted, and there they were reunited for ever.  This shows that even in those far-away days the belief in a life after death existed.  Freya used to sit in her beautiful palace every night, spinning the finest of silken threads, which she would afterwards give to the best wives and mothers in token of her love; and every starlight night those on earth might watch her at her loving, self-imposed task, for was not what we call Orion's Belt the spinning-wheel of the Queen of Heaven?
    Some of the stories told of Freya do not quite redound to her credit, as, for instance, when she secretly caused part of Odin's golden statue to be destroyed, that the gold might furnish her with a splendid necklace.  We must hope that this was done during what was only a passing fit of inordinate feminine vanity!
    To her worshippers, in spite of these little weaknesses, Freya appeared in the light of a mighty goddess, who as the wife of Odin or Wodan sat high enthroned by his side, above the worlds, ruling heaven and earth, and deciding on the fate of nations, hovering over battlefields, and meting out victory or defeat as seemed to her just and right.  Freya divided the fallen warriors with her husband, and led those who fell to her share to her beautiful palace, where she gave them refreshing draughts of mead.
    The Scandinavian legends relating to Freya are modifications of these, varying in some details, but in all alike she is the goddess of beauty, love, and plenty—the great Earth Mother, wearing the shining necklace Brisingamen, and the bright flowers of spring, and when moved to tears, weeping tears "golden as the blaze of the new spring sun," and hence Freya's tears—golden tears—have grown to be proverbial.
    It is uncertain whether Friday is named after Freya or after Frey: in all probability it is Fraya (dies Veneris).
    Some students of Norse Mythology hold that Frigg and Freya are quite distinct conceptions: Frigg is a mother's love, they say, whilst Freya is the love of a youth or maiden. (Girls' Christian Names, Swan, 1905)