Francis

See also: francis

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin Franciscus (“French(man)”) (from Francia (“France”)). Doublet of Francisco and Franz.

Pronunciation

• (trap–bath split)
  • (Received Pronunciation, Standard Southern British) IPA^(key): /ˈfɹɑːnsɪs/, [ˈfɹʷɑːnsɪs]

    • Audio (Southern England):

      (file)

  • (South Australia, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈfɹɐːnsɪs/, [ˈfɹʷɐːnsɪs]
• (bad–lad split)
  • (Australia, without æ-raising) IPA^(key): /ˈfɹæːnsɪs/, [ˈfɹʷæːnsɪs]
  • (Australia, æ-raising) IPA^(key): /ˈfɹæːnsɪs/, [ˈfɹʷɛːnsɪs] ~ [ˈfɹʷeːnsɪs]
• (without the trap–bath split, without the bad-lad split)
  • (US, Canada, without æ-raising) IPA^(key): /ˈfɹænsɪs/, [ˈfɹʷænsɪs]
  • (æ-raising)
    • (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈfɹænsɪs/, [ˈfɹʷeə̯nsɪs] ~ [ˈfɹʷɛə̯nsɪs]
  • (Northern England, Midlands) IPA^(key): /ˈfɹansɪs/, [ˈfɹʷansɪs] ~ [ˈfɹʷänsɪs]
  • (Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˈfɾansɪs/, [ˈfɾänsɪs]
• (variable trap–bath split)
  • (Wales) IPA^(key): /ˈfɹansɪs/, /ˈfɹaːnsɪs/
• Rhymes: -ænsɪs, -ɑːnsɪs
• Hyphenation: Fran‧cis

Proper noun

Francis

1. A male given name from Latin.
   • 1820 February 9, Leigh Hunt, “Names”, in The Indicator, number XVIII:

     Francis is one of the pleasantest names in use. It has a fine open air with it, - a sound correspondent to its sense.

   • 2006, Kate Atkinson, One Good Turn, Black Swan, published 2007, →ISBN, page 454:

     Francis had never been 'Frank' or 'Fran', he had always been called by his full name. It had lent him a certain dignity that he had possibly never earned.

   • 2021 July 30, Priscilla Alvarez, “Senate confirms Biden’s pick to serve as US Citizenship and Immigration Services director”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     Under former President Donald Trump, USCIS was led by a string of acting officials after L. Francis Cissna left in 2019 – most notably immigration hardliner Ken Cuccinelli who gained attention for his push for Trump policies and frequent press engagements.

   • 2025 May 8, Angela Giuffrida and Harriet Sherwood, “White smoke from Sistine Chapel chimney signals election of new pope”, in The Guardian‎^[2]:

     Francis riled conservative cardinals with his compassion for migrants and refugees, openness towards LGBTQ+ Catholics and demands for action on the climate crisis.

2. (rare) A female given name from Latin, alternative spelling of Frances.
3. A surname originating as a patronymic.
4. A placename
   1. A rural municipality (Rural Municipality of Francis No. 127) in south-east Saskatchewan, Canada.
   2. A town in Saskatchewan within the rural municipality.
   3. A ghost town in Wheeler County, Nebraska, United States.
   4. A township in Holt County, Nebraska.
   5. A town in Pontotoc County, Oklahoma.
   6. A town in Summit County, Utah, United States.

Derived terms

• Lake Saint Francis, Lake St. Francis
• Sir Francis Drake Channel
• St. Francis
• St. Francisville

Related terms

• France
• Frances
• Frank
• Frauncis

Translations

male given name

• Albanian: Françesk m, Ngjiku
• Arabic: فَرَنْسِيس m (faransīs)
• Armenian: Ֆրանցիսկոս (Francʻiskos)
• Basque: Frantzizko, Patxi, Frantzisko (eu)
• Belarusian: Франці́шак m (Francíšak)
• Breton: Frañsez (br)
• Bulgarian: Франци́ск m (Francísk)
• Catalan: Francesc (ca), (used only as equivalent to French François) Francés
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 弗朗西斯 (zh) (Fúlǎngxīsī)

• Czech: František (cs) m
• Danish: Frans (da) c
• Dutch: Frans (nl) m, Francis (nl) m, Franciscus (nl) m
• Esperanto: Francisko
• Faroese: Frans m, Frank m
• Finnish: Frans (fi), Franciscus (religion)
• Franco-Provençal: Francês
• French: François (fr) m, Francis (fr) m
• Frisian:

  West Frisian: Fransiskus

• Galician: Francisco (gl) m
• German: Franz (de) m, Franziskus (de) m
• Greek: Φραγκίσκος (el) m (Fragkískos)
• Hawaiian: Palakiko
• Hungarian: Ferenc (hu)
• Icelandic: Frans (is)
• Indonesian: Fransiskus
• Irish: Proinsias m
• Italian: Francesco (it) m
• Japanese: フランシス (Furanshisu), フランソワ (Furansowa) (French form)
• Konkani: Frask, Forso
• Latin: Franciscus (la) m
• Latvian: Francis m
• Lithuanian: Pranciškus (lt) m
• Maltese: Franġisk, Frans
• Manx: Frank m
• Māori: Paranihi
• Marathi: फ्रँसिस m (phrĕusis), फ्रांसिस (phrāusis)
• Neapolitan: Francisco
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: Frans m

• Occitan: Francés (oc) m
• Polish: Franciszek (pl)
• Portuguese: Francisco (pt)
• Romanian: Francisc
• Russian: Франци́ск (ru) m (Francísk)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Фрањо m

  Latin: Franjo m

• Slovak: František m
• Slovene: Frančišek m
• Spanish: Francisco (es), Paco (es)
• Swedish: Frans (sv)
• Tagalog: Fransisco
• Ukrainian: Франци́ск m (Francýsk)
• Vietnamese: Phanxicô (Catholic)
• Welsh: Ffransis

Anagrams

• Friscan

Cebuano

Etymology

Borrowed from English Francis, from Latin Franciscus, originally a nickname of St. Francis of Assisi.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɾansis/ [ˈpɾ̪an̪.s̪ɪs̪]
• Hyphenation: Fran‧cis

Proper noun

Fráncis (Badlit spelling ᜉ᜔ᜇᜈ᜔ᜐᜒᜐ᜔)

1. a male given name from English [in turn from Latin]

Dutch

Etymology

From Latin Franciscus, originally a nickname of St. Francis of Assisi.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Proper noun

Francis m

1. a male given name

Related terms

• Frans

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English Francis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fʁɑ̃.sis/

• Audio:

  (file)

Proper noun

Francis m

1. a male given name, variant of François

Related terms

• François

Latvian

Etymology

First recorded as a given name of Latvians in 1522. From Latin Franciscus. Corresponding to English Francis.

Proper noun

Francis m

1. a male given name

Related terms

• Franciska

References

• Klāvs Siliņš: Latviesu personvārdu vārdnīca. Riga "Zinātne" 1990, →ISBN
• [3] Population Register of Latvia: Francis was the only given name of 536 persons in Latvia on May 21st 2010.