A male name. Latin Franciscus ‘a Frenchman’ (French François, Italian Francesco, Spanish Francisco, German Franz). The widespread popularity of this name is undoubtedly due to St Francis of Assisi (1182-1226), whose original name was Giovanni, Francesco being a nickname said to have been bestowed on him on account of his fluency in the French tongue. But the name may have been in use earlier, for in Curia Regis Rolls of 1200 and 1207 there is mention of a certain Franceis, though this too may have been a nickname rather than a proper christian name. The surname Francis seems to have originated thus, for early examples are all in the form le Franceys, &c. It is curious that the name did not become common in England until the 16th C, though the Franciscans established themselves early in this country and at the Reformation had some 80 convents here. One of the earliest examples on record is Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford (1527?-85), and the growing power and influence of the Russell family in the 16th C may have had a good deal to do with its spread at a time when one would not naturally expect the name of a Catholic saint to came into use. Francis Drake, for example, was a godson of this Francis Russell, and one of Francis Bacon’s aunts was m. to his s., Lord Russell. The fashion, however, was a passing one and the name was not much used in the 17th and 18th C except in families, such as those of Russell and Drake already mentioned, where it was firmly established. It gradually came back into favour in the 19th C and is now a common name. In the 16th C Fraunce was sometimes used as an abbreviation as well as the more usual Frank.

From the Latin name Franciscus, which has been rendered ‘one who had visited the Franks.’ Conf. Dufresne, under ‘Franciscus.’

Teutonic (masculine) - Indomitable.