Francis (given name)

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Francis
Jan Claudius de Cock - St. Francis receives the stigmata.jpg
St. Francis receives the stigmata by Jan Claudius de Cock
Pronunciation /ˈfrɑːnsɪs,ˈfræn-/ [1] [2]
GenderMale
Language(s) French, Haitian Creole, Latin
Name day October 4
Origin
Language(s) Latin
MeaningFreeman [3]
Region of origin Medieval Italy
Other names
Related names Franciscus, Francisco, Francesco, François, Franz, Franciszek, Francesc, Ferenc, Franco, Frans, Frank, Franklin, Frankie, Franky, Fritz

Francis is an English, French, German, Dutch and Scandinavian given name of Latin origin.

Contents

Francis is a name that has many derivatives in most European languages. A feminine version of the name in English is Frances, or (less commonly) Francine. [4] (For most speakers, Francis and Frances are homophones or near homophones; a popular mnemonic for the spelling is "i for him and e for her".) The name Frank is a common diminutive for Francis, as is Frannie for Frances. Less common are the diminutives Fritz for Francis, and Franny and Fran for either Francis or Frances.

History

The name has relatively unclear origins but is thought to mean "free". Notably, the Germanic of the Franks gave their name to France and their characteristic national weapon was the francisca, a throwing axe. Francesco ("Free man", "Frank", "Frenchman", in medieval Italian) [5] was the name given to Saint Francis of Assisi (born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone) by his francophile father, whose wife, the mother of Francesco, was French, [6] celebrating his trade with French merchants. Due to the renown of the saint, the name became widespread in Western Europe during the Middle Ages in its different versions (Francisco, François, etc.). However, it was not regularly used in Britain until the 16th century as Francis. [7]

Related names are common in other Western European languages, in countries that are (or were before the Reformation) Catholic. Other non-European languages have also adopted variants of the name. These names include:

List of people with the given name Francis

Aristocracy

France

German-speaking countries

Iberian monarchies

Italy

Hungary

Scandinavia

Religious figures

Fictional characters

See also

References

  1. ↑ '"`UNIQ--templatestyles-00000000-QINU`"' "Francis". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary . Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 2016-02-07.
  2. ↑ '"`UNIQ--templatestyles-00000002-QINU`"' "Francis". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 2021-05-17.
  3. ↑ Navarro, Yvonne (2007). First Name Reverse Dictionary: Given Names Listed by Meaning, 2d ed. McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers. pp. 110–112. ISBN   9780786429349.
  4. ↑ "Baby Name Statistics". Baby Names – England and Wales, ONS. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
  5. ↑ Chesterton, Gilbert Keith (1924). St. Francis of Assisi (14th ed.). Garden City, New York: Image Books. p. 158.
  6. ↑ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Francis"  . Encyclopædia Britannica . Vol. 10 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 933.
  7. ↑ Francis
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