Franke
A masculine French form of the name Francis, meaning "free".
Name Census estimates that about 58 living Americans carry the first name Franke. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Franke today is around 48 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Franke births was 2006 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Franke. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Franke with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Franke. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
58
~ 1 in 5,909,558 Americans
Peak year
2006
7 babies that year
Average age
48
years old
2006 SSA rank
#9,907
Tracked since 1947
Census
Franke in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 247 people with the first name Franke, which placed it at #33,475 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#33,475
National first-name rank
People counted
247
247 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
58.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Franke
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Franke is White at 58.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (22.3%) and Black (11.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Franke described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Franke at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White58.7% · 145
- Hispanic or Latino22.3% · 55
- Black or African American11.7% · 29
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.2% · 8
- Two or more races2.8% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 3
Popularity
Franke: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Franke from the 1940s through to the 2000s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 17 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1960s peak, Franke remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Franke 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 Franke during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Franke
The name Franke is of Germanic origin, derived from the ancient Frankish tribe that inhabited parts of modern-day France, Belgium, and the Netherlands during the Middle Ages. The Franks were a powerful confederation of Germanic tribes that played a significant role in shaping European history.
The name Franke is thought to have evolved from the Old Frankish word "franka," meaning "free" or "frank," referring to the independent and fearless nature of the Frankish people. This name was likely adopted by individuals who were either members of the Frankish tribe or associated with their culture and way of life.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Franke can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus Saxoniae Regiae, a collection of medieval documents from the region of Saxony, dating back to the 9th century. This suggests that the name had already gained popularity among Germanic peoples during the Carolingian period.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Franke. One of the most famous was Franke Borselen (1406-1470), a Dutch nobleman and military leader who played a crucial role in the Utrecht Rebellion against the Dukes of Burgundy in the 15th century.
Another prominent figure was Franke Janszoon (1608-1668), a Dutch explorer and whaler who is credited with being the first European to land on the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. His expedition in 1638 led to the establishment of a Dutch settlement on the island.
In the realm of literature, Franke Manley (1860-1930) was an American author and journalist who wrote several popular novels and short stories in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including "The Heart of a Girl" and "The Eternal Magnet."
The name Franke also has a connection to the world of art through Franke Alfred Schmitz (1834-1909), a German painter and sculptor known for his realistic depictions of animals and landscapes. His works were widely exhibited throughout Europe during his lifetime.
Finally, Franke Wilmer (1887-1977) was a prominent American educator and administrator who served as the president of Oberlin College in Ohio from 1946 to 1959, overseeing a period of significant growth and development for the institution.
These are just a few examples of individuals who have carried the name Franke throughout history, highlighting its deep roots in Germanic culture and its enduring presence across various fields and disciplines.
People
Franke + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Franke 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
Franke: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Franke?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 58 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Franke 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 5,909,558 US residents.
Is Franke a common name?
We classify Franke as "Very Rare". It ranks above 56.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 67 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Franke most popular?
The single biggest year for Franke was 2006, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Franke is about 48 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Franke in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 247 people with the name Franke, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,475 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Franke in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Franke?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Franke on both sides of the split. Of the 241 people counted with this name, 168 were male (69.7%) and 73 were female (30.3%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Franke?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Franke is White at 58.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (22.3%) and Black (11.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Franke most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Franke in the 2020 Census, accounting for 58.7% (145 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Franke in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Franke a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Franke in the SSA data are male. 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.
Is Franke still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Franke in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Franke can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
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.
How many people have Franke as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Franke, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.