Name of the Week: Francesca

Origin:

Francesca is the feminine form of Francesco, the Italian form of Francis. Both Francesco and Francis ultimately derive from the Latin Franciscus, a term which originally meant "Frankish, of the Franks" but later came to mean "a Frenchman." The Franks—the Germanic tribe that conquered Celtic Gaul from the Romans in the 5th century A.D.—almost certainly derived their name from the old Germanic word *frankon "javelin, lance." By the 14th-century, however, frank had come to mean "free, liberal, generous, sincere, forthright, worthy." This meaning developed from an association with the Franks because it was the conquering Franks that held the status of freemen. A.Harding argues that the Franks actually helped develop the concept, and vocabulary, of freedom. "Chieftains and vassals within the warrior aristocracy of Franks all possessed a quality of freedom, a franchisia, which the conquered population lacked. A military vassal was necessarily a liber homo [free man] because he was a franc homme [Frank], and he expected to hold the land given him by his lord on conditions which were worthy of a freeman."* Francesco/Francis itself was originally used as a byname, or nickname, meaning "Frenchman," and swiftly became a surname. It only really came into use as a given name, however, until the hugely popular cult of St Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) spread across Europe. Born while his father (a wealthy merchant) was away on business in France, his mother had baptised him with the name Giovanni. On his return, however, his father preferred to call him Francesco "Frenchman," either because of his travels and admiration for France or possibly because his wife was from Provence.

Usage:

Francesca has been used in Italy since the 13th-century* but was rare before the 14th-century.* One of the earliest famous bearers of the name was Francesca da Rimini (1255-1285), daughter of the lord of Ravenna. Married off by her father to Giovanni Malatesta, Francesca ended up falling in love with his younger brother Paolo. They began an affair that lasted for ten years until they were both caught—and killed—by Giovanni. Francesca was contemporary of Dante Alighieri, and her story was well known enough in its time for him to include Francesca and Paolo as characters in the Divine Comedy. Her tragic romance inspired numerous operas and symphonies in the 19th century.  By the 15th-century, feminine variations of Francis became more widespread on the Continent. A survey of the Catasto of Florence in 1427 puts Francesca at #10. Around this period, Santa Francesca Romana (1384–1440), known as Saint Frances of Rome in English, spent much of her life helping the poor and sick in Rome.  Britain was comparatively late to the table with feminine forms of Francis, as Frances did not come into regular use until the 15th-century and only became common in the 16th-century. By the early 17th-century, however, Frances was a top 20 staple, where it remained until the mid-19th century and was still in the top 50 until the 1950s.  In England, Francesca was used as the Latin form of Frances in parish records, though these women would have been known exclusively as "Frances" in their everyday lives.  During the 19th-century, Francesca was uncommon in a name in its own right but at least used regularly—perhaps inspired by the many 19th century operas about Francesca da Rimini. By the end of the century, its numbers were bolstered slightly by Italian immigration.  Births records in England and Wales: 1840s: 1850s: 1860s: 1870s: 1880s: 1890s: 1900s: 1910s: 1920s: 1930s: 1940s: 1950s: 1960s: 1970s: 22 births 18 births 13 births 21 births 34 births 49 births 78 births 61 births 46 births 43 births 304 births 830 births 1587 births 2161 births The large leap in use in the 1940s can be directly attributed to 1945 British melodrama The Seventh Veil starring James Mason and Ann Todd as the main character, Francesca Cunningham. We can see the impact of the film on names almost straight away: between 1940 and 1945 there were 53 registrations for the name Francesca altogether. In 1946, following the film's release, 59 girls received the name in just that one year alone.  One of the Francesca's to be born in this 1945 wave was British actress Francesca Annis. She became more widely known when she played Estella in a 1967 television adaptation of Great Expectations, and she gained praise for her performance as Lady Macbeth in Roman Polanski's film version of Macbeth (1971). Annis may have helped keep the name Francesca in mind, and explain why it continued to rise from the 1940s onwards.  The ONS do not have any data for the years between 1985-1993, but we can assume that Francesca first entered the top 100 in either the late 1980s or 1990s as it ranked at #59 by 1994.  It rose to a peak of #53 with 1052 births in 1998 and saw a moderate decline immediately after up until 2002. The name has since plateaued, sitting comfortably around the #85 mark for the last two decades.  Having been in the top 100 for so long, Francesca now has the feel of a modern classic, akin to Georgia and Imogen.  In 2017, Francesca ranked #89 with 600 births in England and Wales, however, it is far more common in England than any other region in the UK. In England alone it ranked #89 (581 births), while in Wales it was #145 (19 births).  In the same year, Francesca ranked #191 (23 births) in Scotland and #239 (7 births) in Northern Ireland.

Famous Bearers:

History: * Francesca da Rimini (1255-1285), daughter of the lord of Ravenna.  * Santa Francesca Romana/Saint Frances of Rome (1384–1440), Italian saint.  * Francesca Caccini (1587–1641), Italian composer, singer, lutenist and poet. * Francesca Cuzzoni (1696–1778), Italian operatic soprano of the Baroque era. Contemporary: * Francesca Annis (b.1945), British actress. * Francesca Simon (b.1955), American author. * Francesca Gagnon (b.1957), Canadian singer and theatre actress. * Francesca Lubiani (b.1977), Italian tennis player. * Francesca Martinez (b.1978), British comedian and actress.  Literature and Other Media: * Francesca Cunningham, main character in The Seventh Veil (1945).

Variants:

Frances (English), Francisca (Spanish, Portuguese), Françoise (French), Franziska (German), Franciszka (Polish)

Pronunciation:

fran-CHES-kə [key]

Possible  diminutives:

Fran, Frannie, Franca, Frankie, Chessie, Cheska

Sibling Names:

Imogen     Sienna     Emilia     Isabella     Georgia     Scarlett  Roman     Samuel     Adam     Benjamin     Toby     Joshua

Name Lists:

N/A

 

If you like Francesca you may also like:   Alexandra, Madeleine, Freya, Harriet, Arabella, Lydia, Jasmine, Victoria, Helena, Gabriella

Thanks to Francesca for requesting this name.