Francis
Masculine · “Frenchman”
Francis is given to both — 290,490 boys and 29,832 girls since 1880. See Francis as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Francis began as a nickname meaning "the Frenchman," and it traveled the world on the strength of one man from Assisi who was called it. Eight centuries later it is still being given to babies, still shortened to Frank at the kitchen table, and still recognized on sight in a dozen languages. It has that unhurried two-beat sound — FRAN-sis — that never needs spelling out loud, only clarifying.
How old is the name Francis?
Francis was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Francis alive today was born around 1936, making them about 89 years old. About 107,000 people named Francis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Francis most popular?
Francis peaked in 1915, reaching #29 nationally. Today it ranks #420, 391 places below that high. See the whole 1915 chart.
Where it comes from
From Franciscus to Francis
The story of Francis
Latin Franciscus meant simply "a Frank," a Frenchman, and for a long time it was a byname rather than a given name. That changed in the thirteenth century with Francis of Assisi, the merchant's son who founded the Franciscan order; his followers carried the name across Catholic Europe, where it settled into Francesco, Francisco, François and Franz. English took it up as Francis in the Tudor period, and it has never gone out of use since. In 2013 a newly elected pope chose it as his papal name, the first to do so.
Meaning
Frenchman; from France
From Latin Franciscus. The Italian form Francesco was a nickname given to the young man of Assisi later canonized as Francis, whose family had strong French trade connections; the name he was born with was Giovanni.
How the name formed
- Franciscus
- Francesco
- Francis
- Frances
Related forms: Francesco · Francisco · François · Franz · Franciszek · Ferenc
Pronouncing Francis
FRAN-sis
Stress on the first syllable. Identical in sound to the feminine Frances in American English — the difference lives entirely in the spelling.
Nicknames for Francis
High
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
- 19186,347 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #29reached in 1915
- Change vs 2022
- +15.8%769 in 2025, from 664
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.
Francis in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Francesco in Italian — same name
- Francisco in Spanish — same name
- François in French — same name
- Franz in German — same name
- Franciszek in Polish — same name
- Ferenc in Hungarian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Pennsylvania.
Franciss among us
people named Francis are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 2,221 born in 2025 was named Francis
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Lee test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Francis's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Lee climbed just as high around 1900, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Lee's path sketches the road Francis is walking now.
Francis has held the top-100 across 7 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Francis is headed
Francis should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Francis beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Francis in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- An unbroken written record from the thirteenth century onward, in continuous use in English since the Tudor era.
- Instantly recognizable across Italian, Spanish, French, German and Polish, so it travels without needing translation.
- Comes with ready-made short forms — Frank, Frankie, Fran — each of which stands perfectly well alone.
- Familiar to everyone yet uncommon among children now, so a boy is unlikely to share it with a classmate.
- Spelled the way it sounds; no one will need it repeated twice.
- Francis and Frances sound exactly alike in American English, so the spelling will be queried on forms, in emails and by teachers for life. Many people simply assume the -es version.
- It is strongly represented among older generations, so it may read as a grandfather's name to some ears — though that is precisely the pattern that has brought other names back around.
- The link to Francis of Assisi and to a sitting pope is close enough that some will hear the name as an explicitly Catholic choice, whether or not you mean it that way.
- If you dislike Frank, be ready for it: it arrives on its own within a few years of school.
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What they receive
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Francis
Masculine · #420 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Franciss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 107,000 people named Francis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Francis in 2025?
- Francis ranks #420 among US boy names in 2025, with 769 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Francis?
- About 1 in every 2,221 US boys born in 2025 was named Francis — 769 in all.
- Will my child share the name Francis with classmates?
- Francis will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Francis
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Jaden#421 · Solomon#422 · Conrad#417 · Reed#417 · Boone#423 · Killian#417 · Rylan#416 · Julius#424
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Francis? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Francis and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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