Francis

Francis is the 406th most common surname in the United States, shared by 78,198 people at the 2020 census. That is about one person in 3,822.

By the numbers

People: 78,198
Rank: 406th
How common: 1 in 3,822
Per 100,000: 26.2

Where the name comes from

Origin a patronymic

(from Francia (“France”)).

Etymology from Wiktionary, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Who bears the name

How people with the surname Francis described their own race and Hispanic origin at the 2020 census:

White, not Hispanic 55.7%
Black, not Hispanic 30.9%
Hispanic or Latino 4.7%
Two or more races, not Hispanic 4.3%
Asian or Pacific Islander, not Hispanic 2.5%
American Indian or Alaska Native, not Hispanic 1.9%

Notable people called Francis

Pope Francis (1936–2025)266th pope of the Catholic Church from 2013 to 2025
Trevor Francis (1954–2023)English association football player and manager
Francis, Duke of Guise (1519–1563)French soldier and politician
Anne Francis (1930–2011)American actress
Kay Francis (1905–1968)American actress
Simon Francis (born 1985)English footballer
Dick Francis (1920–2010)English jockey and crime writer
Leigh Francis (born 1973)British actor and host

People named Francis with articles in the most Wikipedia languages. Data from Wikidata (CC0).

Surnames like Francis

Also a first name

Francis has been given to 320,322 American babies as a first name since 1880, peaking in 1918. See it as a given name.

Try it on yourself

Source: US Census Bureau, Frequently Occurring Surnames, 2020. The Census describes the file as the surnames borne by 100 or more people; rarer names are not published. The line is not quite exact, and 617 published names come in under it, the smallest at 92 people. Race and Hispanic origin are self-reported. Rates are worked out against the 298.9 million people the file's own figures are calculated on, which is fewer than the census counted in all: the difference is everyone whose surname was too rare to publish.