Francis
Francis is ranked 450th among boys in 2024 (693 births). Its best rank was 29th, in 1915.
- Rank in 2024
- #450up 6 from 2023
- Births in 2024
- 6930.04% of boys
- Peak year
- 19186,347 births
- Best rank
- #29in 1915
- Since 1880
- 319,430people given the name
The story in the numbers
289,720 boys have been named Francis in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1918, with 6,347 births — 0.63% of all boys recorded that year.
It is holding steady: its share of births has moved by less than half in either direction over ten years (rank 480 → 450).
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1936, and the 1920s alone account for 20%. It has spent 145 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 76 of them in the top 100.
It is overwhelmingly a boy’s name: 29,710 girls have also been given it, 9.3% of the total.
Rank among boys, year by year
By decade
| Decade | boys named Francis | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 3,244 | |
| 1890s | 4,535 | |
| 1900s | 7,021 | |
| 1910s | 41,053 | |
| 1920s | 59,096 | |
| 1930s | 41,384 | |
| 1940s | 39,520 | |
| 1950s | 34,765 | |
| 1960s | 19,336 | |
| 1970s | 10,015 | |
| 1980s | 9,412 | |
| 1990s | 7,079 | |
| 2000s | 4,533 | |
| 2010s | 5,442 | |
| 2020s | 3,285 |
In 1918, its biggest year
Francis was the 30th most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1918 were John, William, James, Robert and Charles. See all of 1918.
Names that rose and fell with Francis
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Ervinpeak 1921
- Howardpeak 1921
- Virgilpeak 1921
- Miltonpeak 1920
- Ralphpeak 1921
- Lloydpeak 1918
- Wilfredpeak 1920
- Edmundpeak 1923
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.