We show that the equivalence between several possible characterizations of Frobenius algebras, and of symmetric Frobenius algebras, carries over from the category of vector spaces to more general monoidal categories. For Frobenius algebras, tire appropriate setting is the one of rigid monoidal categories, and for symmetric Frobenius algebras it is the one of sovereign monoidal categories. We also discuss some properties of Nakayama automorphisms.