How popular is the baby name Francis in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Francis.

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Popularity of the baby name Francis


Posts that mention the name Francis

Baby named after Notre Dame football coach

Football coach Frank Leahy (1908-1973)
Frank Leahy

Francis William “Frank” Leahy, who played football at Notre Dame under Knute Rockne, went on to coach the Notre Dame football team himself for 11 seasons (1941-43, 1946-53).

“While at Notre Dame, Leahy had six undefeated seasons, five national championship teams and an unbeaten string of 39 games in the late 1940s.”

Leahy retired for health reasons in 1954.

A week after he retired, Arnold and Mildred Penza of Kenosha, Wisconsin — parents of Don Penza, captain of Leahy’s 1953 Notre Dame team — welcomed their 10th child.

The baby boy was named Frank Leahy Penza, after Coach Leahy.

(The names of all 10 Penza kids, from oldest to youngest, were Donald, John, George, Dennis, Thomas, Joan, James, Mary Lynn, Diane, and Frank.)

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Bill Nicholas and Frank Leahy 1947

Baby born to Everton F.C. fans, named Elliott Francis Cain (“EFC”)

Everton F.C. logo
Everton F.C. logo

Ready for another soccer-inspired baby name?

In December of 2012, Katie Brown and her partner Brian welcomed a baby boy at Liverpool Women’s Hospital in Liverpool, England. They’re big fans of Everton Football Club, so they named their son Elliott Francis Cain, initials E.F.C., in honor of the club.

I’m not sure if “Cain” is a middle name or a surname, but while searching for clues I did happen to find a photo of Elliott Francis Cain (EFC) cupcakes. :)

Speaking of yummy things, one nickname for Everton F.C. is “The Toffees.”

Rival team Liverpool, which inspired a pair of Norwegian parents to name their daughter Ynwa back in 2010, goes by “The Reds.”

Source: Mersey mum gives birth to baby blue Elliott Francis Cain on Christmas Day

Image: Adapted from Everton F.C. logo (fair use)

Massachusetts family with 24 children

kinderfest

Here’s a French-Canadian family that welcomed at least two dozen children from the 1870s to the 1890s.

Francois Gervais was born in St. Roch (near Montreal) in 1847. He later moved to Worcester, Massachusetts, and found work as a carpenter.

He and his second wife, Marie Louise, became the parents of 21 children within their first 20 years of marriage, according to a New York Times article from 1895 about “Francis” and his family. At that time, only 9 of the children were living:

  • Frank, 18 years old
  • Arthur, 17
  • Roch, 14 (called Rodrique elsewhere)
  • Henry, 10
  • Louise, 9
  • Eugene, 5 (middle name George)
  • Edward, 4
  • Eva Marie, 3
  • Albert, 1.5

According to records, two of their non-surviving children were named Josephine (b. 1889) and Joseph (b. 1893).

After the article came out, Francois and Marie Louise had several more children, but it looks like only one survived:

  • Joseph and Marie, twins, b. 1896, died of “infantile weakness”
  • John, b. 1898, survived
  • Dorila, b. 1899, died of diphtheria

Francois also had triplets with his first wife, Melvina, but the babies didn’t survive, and Melvina died a few years later.

Source: “Twenty-One Children in Twenty Years.” New York Times 23 Jun. 1895: 21

Image: Ein Kinderfest (1868) by Ludwig Knaus

Was this the first baby named after Shakespeare’s Juliet?

Juliet (1888) by Philip H. Calderon
Painting of Juliet

English actor Richard Burbage and English playwright William Shakespeare were close friends. So close that Burbage named his first daughter Juliet, very likely after the character from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

So Juliet Burbage, who was born in 1608 and only lived a few months, could have been the very first baby girl in history to be named after the famous character.

Burbage and his wife Winifred also had children named Richard, Francis, Anne, Winifred, Julia (probably named in honor of her deceased older sister), William and Sara. Some speculate that Anne and William were named after William Shakespeare and his wife Anne, but there’s no way to know for sure.

Have you ever met anyone named Juliet? Do you like the name?

Sources:

  • Collier, J. Payne. The History of English Dramatic Poetry to the Time of Shakespeare; and Annals of the Stage to the Restoration. London: George Bell & Sons, 1879.
  • Neil, Samuel. Shakespeare. London: Houlston and Wright, 1861.
  • Wilson, Ian. Shakespeare: The Evidence: Unlocking the Mysteries of the Man and His Work. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 1999.