Freya, Freyja or Freja?

[FoleyHuck]

Hi All

4 weeks until d-day and DH and I are driving ourselves mad trying to choose names.

For girls we had Edith, Matilda and Astrid on the shortlist but have been going back and forth on all of them. My current favourite of the 3 is Edith / Edie. I like the idea of Astrid more than I actually like the name I think. Matilda appeals because I loved the book when I was a young avid reader, and because it offers a lot of variant potential (Tilly, Tilda, Tilde, Matti etc).

We've now upped the confusion by adding Freya / Freja / Freyja to the list and it's fast growing on me, but I can't decide which would be the best spelling to use.

We live in Britain, but DH is Scandinavian, as is our surname.

Any thoughts please wise MNetters? I'm finding myself very jealous of people who knew their baby's name for certain early on! Let's not even mention that we don't know if baby is a girl or a boy, so this is only half the discussion!!

The 2 Freja's known to us all get Frigda... As a piss take...
Freya and save your dd the hassle..

Freja is lovely, and that’s the spelling I would go for (I'm Scandi living in UK too). Sure they’ll have to say ‘with a j’ when spelling their name but who cares!

Freya

Wait until you meet the baby. It's good to have lots of options. Freya, out of the spellings though

All your names are lovely so I can see your dilemma.

Freya is the most common spelling in the UK but if your dh is Scandinavian then I think a traditional Scandinavian spelling would also be fine.

Everyone will spell it Freya...so Freya. Keep it simple.

This is what DH says but I suffer from decision paralysis and fear we'll end up at the registry deadline and still going round in circles

Neither they all sound like cheese. Your other names are all lovely.

Freja is the nicest I think. I don't understand why you would do "yj" as they are both "y" sounds in each country. It seems overdoing it. Also, many countries have the j being a y, so don't assume she will stay here when she grows up. If you even use the name of course.

^ This

Freja or Freya is fine.

I love Freya - I would personally choose this spelling as it’s the one used in the UK and will save a lot of hassle for her. (I like Freya best of all your name ideas - it’s lovely)

Freya is (or at least was according to the last data from 2021) the 6th most popular baby name in England and Wales. As it's so popular it will be the default spelling for almost everyone. Unless there's a reason for choosing another spelling, I'd pick the most popular spelling of a name because it would probably make their life easier.

Freya is soooo popular it will always be Freya in the U.K. Tbh it’s so common that would put me off. I love Edie (but not Edith).

Unless you have plans to move to Scandinavia very soon, spell it Freya to save the poor girl from a lifetime of correcting people or contending with her name spelt and pronounced correctly.

Where we actually live (British Island but not UK) Freya has only been in the top 10 once in the last 10 years, and it was 9th, which equates to around 4 girls given the name that year, if that.

We're trying not to worry about popularity anyway. There's a boys name we like that's been in the top 10 for the last decade, but there's only one currently attends the 65 place, 3 months to 5 years nursery that we viewed recently (I asked out of curiosity as it was our front runner at the time!).

I'm always one to advise against different spellings just for the sake of it but, when it's to reflect their heritage, I think it's lovely to do so (and provides an obvious explanation for anyone who asks why it's spelt differently).

I"ve taught a Freyja who had Norwegian heritage. I actually prefer this spelling to Freja as other people are less likely to try to pronounce it with a hard 'juh' sound but, by having the j, it makes it instantly recognisable as a name from Scandinavian heritage.

Edith is the least Scandi, to me.

I love Astrid, Freja and Matilda.
Some nick names resemble Edie in sound - Astie, Idie,Tildy.

Do you like Erika, Anneka, Vreni or Brenda?

Yj is the most traditional spelling. It's spelt with yj in Old Norse and also modern Icelandic. It makes sense if you're familiar with the phonology. The 'ey' makes the long a sound and the 'j' makes the y sound.

I wouldn't use the Icelandic spelling for a Scandinavian/British child living in the UK though. OP, there is no common Scandinavian spelling or pronunciation so it would depend on the country. I wouldn't pick something at random. Use either the English spelling or the spelling from your DH's country - but English spelling is by far the most practical as this is what people will assume anyway.

That's really interesting, thank you for explaining. Beautiful name.

If you go for Freya then I would just go for the usual spelling of the name in the UK (could understand if you were both Scandinavian) else it will be a constant hassle for her and tbh it comes across as a bit pretentious when parents do this for no significant reason

Exactly, it’s not only correcting people on the spelling but being interrogated on your family tree by every random person you meet. I would much rather people took an interest in who I was, job, kids, hobbies etc rather than the always predictable ‘heritage’ just because of my name

Spell it Freya - you live in the UK, you’re British and she will be too. She’ll have your DH’s surname to reflect her Scandi heritage on that side.

@Bel43 We'd better give her a different surname too then as people fairly regularly comment on that!

As it happens we've ruled out Freja (if we use this name at all in the end) and will pick between the Old Norse and Anglicised versions.

FWIW DH has a very unusual spelling of a very well known name (even unusual for his heritage) and it doesn't cause him any particular hassle.

That’s nice for him, maybe perhaps people are more cautious of interrogating men? It’s not always the case that you have to give your surname so is not necessarily going to be the same issue.
I respect parents choosing whatever name they like if it is so important to them