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Boy · Latin, through Italian
Francis
Say it: FRAN-siss
Meaning
From Latin Franciscus 'Frenchman'.
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
Rare in England before the 16th century, then common among the Tudor gentry.
Its wave through time
Fading since the 1910s
In the United States
- 316,396 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1915, about 1 in 152 boys
- 687 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- The Renaissance1400 to 1600
- The Colonial Americas1500 to 1800
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
- The Modern Age1880 to today
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Fraunces
| Latin | Franciscus |
|---|---|
| French | François |
| Italian | Francesco |
| Spanish | Francisco |
Famous bearers
- Francis Drake
- Francis Bacon
- Francis Walsingham
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Royal and noble genealogies
- Parish baptism registers
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.