Frantz
Masculine · “Latin Franciscus”
St Francis was not christened Francis. He was Giovanni di Bernardone, and Francesco was a nickname, given because his father was a cloth merchant who traded in France. One of the most used names in Europe began as a family joke about where the money came from.
How old is the name Frantz?
Frantz first appears in US birth records in 1938 — 87 years ago. The typical Frantz alive today was born around 1988, making them about 37 years old. About 1,000 people named Frantz are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Frantz most popular?
Frantz peaked in 1988, reaching #1592 nationally. Today it ranks #8910, 7,318 places below that high. See the whole 1988 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Franciscus to Frantz
The story of Frantz
Giovanni di Bernardone was born about 1181 in Assisi to a father who dealt in French cloth and had been in France at the time of the birth. The nickname Francesco, the little Frenchman, stuck and displaced the baptismal name entirely, so that the founder of the Franciscans is universally known by a nickname about his father's trade. It went on to become one of the most widely borne names in the Catholic world, in every language: Francois, Francisco, Franz, Ferenc, Frans, Frantisek. The underlying word is the tribal name Frank, which came to mean free in medieval Latin because the Franks were the free class in Gaul, and which gave English frank, frankly and franchise. So the name means French, which means Frankish, which means free.
Meaning
Latin Franciscus, the Frenchman
Frantz is the German and Haitian spelling of Franz, itself the German form of Franciscus, meaning French or a Frank. The tz digraph writes the same sound German writes z and English writes ts. In the United States the spelling is carried chiefly by Haitian families, where French naming and German orthography met through a separate route. The American peak is 1988.
How the name formed
- Franciscus
- Franz
- Frantz
Related forms: Franz · Francois · Francisco · Ferenc
Pronouncing Frantz
FRAHNTS
One syllable. The tz is said ts, as in cats. Haitian French speakers say it closer to frahns, without the t, which is why both pronunciations are heard in the United States.
Nicknames for Frantz
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
- 1938
- Most boys named
- 198845 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1592reached in 1988
- Change vs 2024
- +14.3%8 in 2025, from 7
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.
Frantz in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Franz in German — spelling variant
- Francois in French — same name
- Francisco in Spanish — same name
- Ferenc in Hungarian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Florida.
Frantzs among us
people named Frantz are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 213,510 born in 2025 was named Frantz
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 Bernerd test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Frantz's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Bernerd climbed just as high around 1920, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Bernerd's path sketches the road Frantz is walking now.
Frantz 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
Frantz beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Frantz in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable, six letters, and a very large name family behind it.
- It is recognized in German, French and Haitian communities alike.
- Francis and Franz are both available as related forms.
- The tz ending is said two ways depending on the speaker's language.
- Franz is the commoner spelling internationally.
- It reads as German to Americans who do not know the Haitian use.
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What they receive
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Frantz
Masculine · #8910 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Frantzs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Frantz are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Frantz in 2025?
- Frantz ranks #8910 among US boy names in 2025, with 8 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Frantz?
- About 1 in every 213,510 US boys born in 2025 was named Frantz — 8 in all.
- Will my child share the name Frantz with classmates?
- Frantz will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Frantz
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Davie#8910 · Ned#8910 · Darious#8910 · Alois#8910 · Len#8910 · Barton#8910 · Desmon#8910 · Winfield#8910
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Frantz? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Frantz and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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