Freia is asteroid #76 and of the type P. Freia was discovered by the German-Danish astronomer Heinrich Louis d’Arrest. Freia was the only asteroid, that he discovered, although he discovered several comets and was a co-discoverer of the planet Neptune. Freia belongs to the group Cybele. This means Freia is an a 7:4 orbital resonance with Jupiter.

Freia is named after Freyja (also spelled Freya or Freia, but Freyja is most authentic), the Norse goddess of love, frugality, spring, and happiness. Freyja is the next-most important goddess right after the most important Norse goddess Frigg, the wife of Odin. Frigg was in southern regions also known as Frija, so Freyja is most likely derived from Frigg, but was definitely never identical with her. Freyja has a husband, Óðr with name, but Freyja is also known for having had affairs with all æsir (except Loki, who slut-shames her for this reason, of course a failed attempt because she is the goddess of love) and elves. Freyja herself is a vanr. Freyja has two daughters with Óðr and this seems to be the only purpose of the existence of Óðr. These daughters are Hnoss and Gesimi. Both names mean treasure or preciosity. As Freyja’s husband, so seem also her daughters to exist without any deeper meaning. Freyja has several attributes. The necklace Brisingamen, which was forged by four dwarfs, who all had short sexual affairs with Freyja. A robe of falcon fur, which gave her the ability to fly. (Odin can fly thanks to a robe of eagle fur.) She rides on a boar, that has the name Hilisvini. But she also has a carriage drawn by forest cats. Freyja sheds tears of gold when she is really sad. Freyja owns a palace in Ásgard named Fólkvangr. The hall Sessrúmnir in this palace is a place for slain warriors, similar to Walhalla. Freyja has the right to choose half of the slain warriors and let the Valkyries bring them to Sessrúmnir. Freyja is the boss of the Valkyries. Freyja is also known by the names (epithets) Mardöll, Menglada, Hörn, Gefn, Sýr und Vanadís. The name Gefn led to speculations whether she is related with Gefion. But this speculation isn’t based on anything else than some similarity of the names. So a relationship isn’t likely. Freyja is related with Freyr, her brother. Freyja can be translated as the lady, while Freyr can be translated as the lord. Freyja is the female form of Freyr and some researchers believe that Freyr denotes a god, whose name is never mentioned, so there is some speculation whether Freyr is only another shape of Freyja or an euhemerized (deified) hero, probably Yngvi with name. Freyja and her brother are children of Skadi and Njörd.

Freia as the goddess of love must be compared with their counterparts Venus and Aphrodite in order to understand why the planet Venus isn’t enough, but love goddesses are also represented by some asteroids. The Greek deities are basically immature versions of the Roman deities. Norse deities must gain their relevance from somewhere else. While some researchers emphasize that Freia and Frigg must be distinguished well because they are different goddesses presiding over different fields of the human life, other researchers believe that Frigg and Freia had once been one goddess and was split into two in the course of development of the ancient religion. Hence Frigg is the goddess of marriage, while Freia has many sexual affairs outside of wedlock. So Freia symbolizes love and sexual affairs outside of any institutional frame. Freia can indicate the use of the famous weapons of women to achieve a goal. While Aphrodite would do this too, Freia represents this only if this happening outside of wedlock is crucial. Relations with other asteroids of the Norse mythology can shift or alter Freia’s meaning of course.