Freitag
A German surname originally taken from the weekday name Friday.
The #7,073 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 65,233 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Freitag is the German word for Friday, from Old High German forms like frīatag and related older Germanic day names meaning “day of Frigg/Freya.” As a surname, it was used for someone born on a Friday, associated with that day, or simply adopted from a calendrical name. Older scholarship sometimes treats it as a name formed from the weekday itself rather than from a separate personal name.
History
German surname works from the 19th century note Freitag as a fairly common family name and link it with other day-name surnames such as Sonntag and Montag. The name appears in medieval records, and one cited form, Sifridus Vrietak, shows that it was already in use by the late 12th century. It is especially associated with German-speaking areas, though it also spread into neighboring regions through migration.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Because the weekday names are so visible in daily speech, German surnames built from them are a classic example of surname formation from ordinary calendar words.
From the historical record
“„Freifleischer*', „Freischuster** (DW.), ferner „Freischlächter'*, „ Freischneider " (KB.). Freitag III. schon 1197 Sifridus Vrietak s. Tag. (Doch findet sich schon ahd. Frittag, zu Frith gehörig.) Als FN. meist Frey tag. Niederd. Friedag. Frenk- s. Franc. Frenssen, Frenz- s. Franciscus.”
— Die deutschen Familiennamen