Francesca

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 17 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Francesca is also recorded as 3 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish given name367K records spelled Francesca75 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Argentina, Chile, Spain, United States

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic

  Also written Francisca, פרנצ'סקה, Font, Egon, Francheska

• Spanish given name12K records spelled Francesca70 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Venezuela, Philippines, Poland

  Languages: Spanish, English, Polish

  Also written Francheska, Франческа, Франциска

• Finnish given name4.0K records spelled Francesca4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, Italy, United States, United Kingdom

  Languages: Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian

  Also written Fràncésca

67 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Francesca is also recorded in 2 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In French, Forme italienne de Françoise, du latin Franciscus « franc, libre ».

  as a name·Dictionnaire généalogique des prénoms

• Libera

  as a name·Il grande libro dei nomi per bebè. Significato, origini, curiosità. Oltre 7000 nomi per bambine e bambini Significato,…

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 123 years between 1895–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Francesca da Riminib. 1259ITItalian noble woman
• Jane Wildeb. 1821IEnot in their usual nameIrish poet and writer, editor (1821–1896)
• Francesca Saverio Cabrinib. 1850USItalian-American Catholic nun, misionary and saint (1850-1917)
• Mitzi Gaynorb. 1931USnot in their usual nameAmerican actress (1931–2024)
• Francesca Annisb. 1945GBEnglish actress
• Romina Powerb. 1951USnot in their usual nameAmerican singer and actress (1951-)
• Francesca Schiavoneb. 1980ITItalian tennis player
• Bonnie Wrightb. 1991GBnot in their usual nameBritish actress and filmmaker
• Francesca Eastwoodb. 1993USAmerican actress
• Francesca Capaldib. 2004USAmerican actress

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 1,031 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Francesca?

We estimate roughly 45 thousand people bear Francesca (counting its spellings and scripts) across 15 countries in our records.

In which country does Francesca have the most bearers?

Francesca is most frequently recorded in Italy, where it is most often spelled francesca.

How common is Francesca compared with other names?

In Italy, Francesca is the 57th most common given name of 102,519 given names recorded there.

Is Francesca a male or female name?

Francesca is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Francesca mean?

Recorded meaning: forma feminina de Francesco