Franko
A masculine name of Germanic origin meaning "free man".
Name Census estimates that about 319 living Americans carry the first name Franko. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Franko today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Franko births was 2016 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Franko. 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
319
~ 1 in 1,074,465 Americans
Peak year
2016
21 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,513
Tracked since 1975
Popularity
Franko: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Franko from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 125 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Franko remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Franko 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 Franko during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Frankos live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Franko, while Florida, California, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 9 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Franko
The name Franko is derived from the Germanic name Franko, meaning "free" or "frank". It originated in the region of Franconia, a historic region in modern-day Germany, during the Middle Ages.
The name is believed to have been first used by the Franks, a group of Germanic tribes that settled in the region of Gaul, which later became part of modern-day France and Germany. The Franks played a significant role in the history of Europe during the Migration Period and the Early Middle Ages.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Franko can be found in the Carolingian dynasty, a Frankish noble family that ruled the Frankish kingdoms and later the Holy Roman Empire during the 8th and 9th centuries. Charlemagne, also known as Charles the Great (742-814), was a member of this dynasty and is considered one of the most influential rulers of the Middle Ages.
Another notable figure with the name Franko was Franko of Cologne (c. 1145-1225), a German churchman and author who wrote several theological works and served as the provost of the collegiate church of St. Andrew in Cologne.
During the Renaissance period, Franko Sacchetti (c. 1335-1400) was an Italian poet and writer from Florence. He is best known for his collection of novellas, "Il Trecentonovelle", which provided valuable insights into the social and cultural life of 14th-century Italy.
In the 19th century, Franko Prešeren (1800-1849) was a renowned Slovenian poet and the author of the Slovenian national epic poem "Krst pri Savici". He is considered one of the most influential figures in Slovenian literature and is regarded as the national poet of Slovenia.
Another notable figure with the name Franko was Franko Simatović (1949-), a former Serbian police officer and paramilitary leader who was convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for crimes against humanity committed during the Bosnian War in the 1990s.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Franko, which has its roots in the ancient Germanic tribes and has been used across various cultures and time periods.
People
Franko + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Franko 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
Franko: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Franko?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 319 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Franko 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 1,074,465 US residents.
Is Franko a common name?
We classify Franko as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 324 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Franko most popular?
The single biggest year for Franko was 2016, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Franko is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Franko a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Franko 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.
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.