Freyr stands as the god associated with kingship, fertility, peace, prosperity, fair weather, and good harvest. Sometimes referred to as Yngvi-Freyr, he was especially linked to Sweden and viewed as an ancestor of the Swedish royal house.
Adam of Bremen wrote one of the oldest written sources on pre-Christian Scandinavian religious practices in 1080. He claimed access to first-hand accounts regarding pagan practices in Sweden and referred to Freyr with the Latinized name Fricco.
In 1904, a Viking Age statuette identified as a depiction of Freyr was discovered on the farm Rällinge in Lunda, Södermanland parish. The seven-centimeter-tall statue features a cross-legged seated bearded male with an erect penis wearing a pointed cap or helmet.
The Old Norse name Freyr meaning lord generally descends from a Proto-Norse form stemming from the Proto-Germanic noun frawjaz or frawjon meaning lord. Recently linguist Guus Kroonen proposed an etymology deriving the god's name from a nominalized form of the Proto-Scandinavian adjective fraiwia meaning fruitful or generative.
In Norway farms named Freysakr meaning Freyr's field exist in Gol Municipality and Torpa Municipality. Other locations include Freyshof meaning Freyr's temple found in Hole Municipality and Trøgstad Municipality.