François

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Boy · Latin, through French

François

Say it: frahn-SWAH

Try it with your surname

Meaning

From Latin Franciscus 'Frankish, French'.

Certainscholars agree on this meaning.

A royal name from 1515 and among the leading French names for centuries.

Its wave through time

Most used in the 1990s

In the United States

010203018801900192019401960198020002020Peak 1992per million babies of that sex
  • 1,752 babies given this name since 1912
  • At its height in 1992, about 1 in 46,400 boys
  • 14 babies in 2020

Through the ages

  1. The Renaissance1400 to 1600
  2. The Age of Revolutions1750 to 1837
  3. The Modern Age1880 to today

Used by

FrenchQuébécois

The family of the name

ItalianFrancesco
SpanishFrancisco
DutchFrans
EnglishFrancis

Famous bearers

  • François I, king of France
  • François Rabelais, writer

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.