The contemporary name for the region stems from Latin Frisii, an ethnonym used for a group of ancient tribes in modern-day Northwestern Germany, possibly being a loanword of Proto-Germanic *frisaz, meaning "curly, crisp", presumably referring to the hair of the tribesmen.

According to Pliny the Elder, in Roman times, the Frisians (or rather their close neighbours, the Chauci) lived on terps, man-made hills.

[3] Frisian presence during the Early Middle Ages has been documented from North-Western Flanders up to the Weser River Estuary.

By the 8th century, ethnic Frisians also started to colonize the coastal areas North of the Eider River under Danish rule.

[c] The historian and sociologist George Homans has made a case for Frisian cultural domination in East Anglia since the 5th century, pointing to distinct land-holdings arrangements in carucates (these forming vills assembled in leets), partible inheritance patterns of common lands held in by kin, resistance to manorialism and other social institutions.

The earliest Frisian records name four social classes, the ethelings (nobiles in Latin documents) and frilings, who together made up the "Free Frisians" who might bring suit at court, and the laten or liten with the slaves, who were absorbed into the laten during the Early Middle Ages, as slavery was not so much formally abolished, as evaporated.

[6]: 202 The basic land-holding unit for assessment of taxes and military contributions was – according to Homans – the ploegg (cf.

Frankish troops conquered the area east of the Lauwers in 785, after Charlemagne defeated the Saxon leader Widukind.

The Carolingians laid Frisia under the rule of grewan, a title that has been loosely related to count in its early sense of "governor" rather than "feudal overlord".

[6]: 205 During the 7th to 10th centuries, Frisian merchants and skippers played an important part in the international luxury trade, establishing commercial districts in distant cities as Sigtuna, Hedeby, Ribe, York, London, Duisburg, Cologne, Mainz, and Worms.

The establishment of the Frisian trade network played a significant role in maintaining regional peace during the late Middle Ages.

Recently, it has been suggested that the Vikings did not conquer Frisia, but settled peacefully in certain districts (such as the islands of Walcheren and Wieringen), where they built simple forts and cooperated and traded with the native Frisians.

The league consisted of modern Friesland, Groningen, East Frisia, Harlingerland, Jever and Rüstringen.

In East Frisia, a leading nobleman from the Cirksena-family managed to defeat his competitors with the help of the Hanseatic League.

The city of Groningen, which had started to dominate the surrounding rural districts, surrendered to count Edzard of East Frisia in 1506.

The district of Butjadingen (formerly Rüstringen) was occupied by the Count of Oldenburg in 1514, the Land Wursten by the Prince-bishop of Bremen in 1525.

In 1577 the province of Friesland became part of the nascent Dutch Republic, as its representatives signed the Union of Utrecht.

In the provinces of Friesland and Groningen, and in North Frisia, there are also areas where Friso-Saxon dialects are predominantly spoken, such as Gronings.

The four pompeblêden (water lily leaves) represent the contemporary variety of the Frisian regions – North, South, West and East.