Francoise
A feminine given name of French origin meaning "free woman".
Name Census estimates that about 441 living Americans carry the first name Francoise. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Francoise today is around 54 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Francoise births was 1967 (29 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Francoise. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
441
~ 1 in 777,221 Americans
Peak year
1967
29 babies that year
Average age
54
years old
2023 SSA rank
#15,966
Tracked since 1917
Popularity
Francoise: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Francoise from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 139 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Francoise by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Francoise during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Francoises live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. New York, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Francoise, while Florida, California, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 13 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Francoise
Francoise is a French feminine given name derived from the Germanic name Franciscus, which itself comes from the Late Latin name Franciscus meaning "Frenchman". The name was originally used as a nickname for someone from France or as an ethnic name.
The name Franciscus was formed from the Germanic words "franc" meaning "free" or "frank" and the suffix "-isk" meaning "belonging to". This name became popular in France during the Middle Ages and was later Latinized as Franciscus.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Francoise can be found in the 13th century French epic poem, "La Chanson de Roland" (The Song of Roland), which tells the story of the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778 AD. In the poem, a character named Francoise is mentioned.
In the 16th century, Francoise de Foix (1495-1537) was a French noblewoman and the Countess of Châteaubriant. She was a prominent figure at the court of King Francis I of France and was known for her literary works.
Francoise d'Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon (1635-1719) was a French author and the second wife of King Louis XIV of France. She played a significant role in the education of the French nobility and founded the renowned Maison Royale de Saint-Louis, a school for daughters of the impoverished nobility.
Francoise de Graffigny (1695-1758) was a French novelist and playwright, best known for her novel "Lettres d'une Péruvienne" (Letters from a Peruvian Woman), which was a significant work of the Age of Enlightenment.
Francoise Sagan (1935-2004), born Francoise Quoirez, was a French playwright, novelist, and screenwriter. She gained international fame at the age of 18 with her first novel "Bonjour Tristesse" (Hello Sadness), which became a bestseller and was later adapted into a film.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Francoise
People
Francoise + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Francoise as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with F
Other first names starting with F with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Francoise: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Francoise?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 441 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Francoise going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 777,221 US residents.
Is Francoise a common name?
We classify Francoise as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 620 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Francoise most popular?
The single biggest year for Francoise was 1967, when 29 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Francoise is about 54 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Francoise a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Francoise in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.