Frances
Masculine · “Latin Franciscus”
Frances is given to girls far more often — 595,697 girls against 5,024 boys since 1880. See Frances as a girl name
One letter separates Francis from Frances in English and in no other language. The convention that i is male and e is female settled only in the nineteenth century, and before that the spellings were used interchangeably for both.
How old is the name Frances?
Frances was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Frances alive today was born around 1931, making them about 94 years old. About 1,500 people named Frances are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Frances most popular?
Frances peaked in 1901, reaching #371 nationally. Today it ranks #10695, 10,324 places below that high. See the whole 1901 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Franciscus to Frances
The story of Frances
Italian has Francesco and Francesca, Spanish Francisco and Francisca, French Francois and Francoise: each language marks the sex with a full ending. English, which lost its grammatical gender, had to improvise, and it settled on the difference between two letters that sound identical, i and e. The convention was not fixed until the nineteenth century, and earlier English records use both spellings for both sexes without comment, which is why a man named Frances appears in American records in 1901 without anyone thinking it odd. It is a fragile way to carry a distinction, and it fails completely in speech, where the two names are homophones and always have been.
Meaning
Latin Franciscus, the Frenchman
From Latin Franciscus, a Frenchman, the nickname by which Francis of Assisi was known. English uses Francis for men and Frances for women; that distinction is an English orthographic convention and does not exist in Italian, Spanish or French. The male peak of this spelling is 1901.
How the name formed
- Franciscus
- Francis
- Frances
Related forms: Francis · Francesco · Francois
Pronouncing Frances
FRAN-sis
Two syllables, stress on the first. Francis and Frances are homophones; only the spelling carries the sex.
Nicknames for Frances
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 1928140 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #371reached in 1901
- Change vs 2020
- −40.0%6 in 2025, from 10
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Frances in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Francis in English — spelling variant
- Francesco in Italian — same name
- Francois in French — same name
Francess among us
people named Frances are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 284,679 born in 2025 was named Frances
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Frances sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Frances beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Frances in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Frank and Fran are two established short forms.
- The name is documented across every European language.
- Two syllables with a firm opening.
- In modern English this spelling reads as female.
- The two spellings sound identical, so the distinction fails in speech.
- The 1901 male peak places it early in the records.
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Frances
Masculine · #10695 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Francess are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,500 people named Frances are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Frances in 2025?
- Frances ranks #10695 among US boy names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Frances?
- About 1 in every 284,679 US boys born in 2025 was named Frances — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Frances with classmates?
- Frances will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Frances
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Dudley#10695 · Dell#10695 · Buford#10695 · Toney#10695 · Allison#10695 · Candido#10695 · Jodie#10695 · Nora#10695
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Frances? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Frances and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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