Franks

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Frankie in US United States, GB United Kingdom, AU Australia and 11 more, Franke in DE Germany, NL Netherlands, SE Sweden and 2 more and Frank in TH Thailand, LA Laos.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested in 1 language 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◐

Franks is also recorded as 2 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish surname18K records spelled Franks5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Argentina, Brazil, United Kingdom

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Italian

  Also written Frank'S

• Russian surname372 records spelled Franks16 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Ukraine, United States, Russia, United Kingdom

  Languages: Russian, Ukrainian

  Also written Франкс, Франки, Franchi, Фрэнкс, Franki

46 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●

Franks is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In Irish, By derivation this name means the Frenchman. A few isolated references to it occur in mediaeval Irish records. Families of Franks or Frank (formerly used synonymously) became established in Ireland in the seventeenth century and have since been prominent as Anglo-Irish gentry in Cos. Leix and Offaly. Frankford (now Kilcormac again) was named from them

  as a name·The Surnames of Ireland

• In Latvian, Rietumģermāņu ciltis, kas mūsu ēras pirmā gadu tūkstoša pirmajā pusē iekaroja Galliju

  as a word·Tēzaurs.lv (Dictionary and Thesaurus of Latvian, AiLab / LU MII)

• In Latvian, Naudas pamatvienība Francijā, Beļģijā un Luksemburgā līdz 2002. g.

  as a word·Tēzaurs.lv (Dictionary and Thesaurus of Latvian, AiLab / LU MII)

• In Latvian, Naudas pamatvienība Šveicē un vairākās citās valstīs

  as a word·Tēzaurs.lv (Dictionary and Thesaurus of Latvian, AiLab / LU MII)

• In Latvian, Sīknaudas vienība Marokā, dirhēma simtā daļa

  as a word·Tēzaurs.lv (Dictionary and Thesaurus of Latvian, AiLab / LU MII)

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●

FR INSEE — Fichier des noms de famille (1891–2000) — 9 years between 1901–1991. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Oliver Franks, Baron Franksb. 1905GBEnglish civil servant and philosopher (1905–1992)
• Mike Franksb. 1936USUS tennis player
• Lynn Johnstonb. 1947CAnot in their usual nameCanadian cartoonist
• Gary Franksb. 1953USAmerican politician (born 1953)
• Philip Franksb. 1956GBactor and theatre director (born 1956)
• Trent Franksb. 1957USAmerican politician
• Steve Franksb. 1965USAmerican television director, producer and writer
• Tanya Franksb. 1967GBBritish actor, writer and producer
• Ben Franksb. 1984AUNew Zealand rugby union player
• Owen Franksb. 1987NZNew Zealand rugby union player

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 · 99 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Franks?

We estimate roughly 644 thousand people bear Franks (counting its spellings and scripts) across 13 countries in our records.

In which country does Franks have the most bearers?

We estimate about 406 thousand people bear Franks in the United States, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled frankie.

Where is Franks most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Franks is densest in France — about 1 in 382 people — even though United States holds more of our records for it.

How common is Franks compared with other names?

In the United States, Franks is the 783rd most common given name of 3,122,706 given names recorded there.

What does the name Franks mean?

Recorded meaning: ‘son of Frank’