Franciszek
A masculine Polish name derived from the Latin Franciscus, meaning "Frenchman" or "free man".
Name Census estimates that about 127 living Americans carry the first name Franciszek. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Franciszek today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Franciszek births was 2017 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Franciszek. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Franciszek with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
127
~ 1 in 2,698,853 Americans
Peak year
2017
15 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,184
Tracked since 1917
Census
Franciszek in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 476 people with the first name Franciszek, which placed it at #21,371 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#21,371
National first-name rank
People counted
476
476 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
98.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Franciszek
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Franciszek is White at 98.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (0.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Franciszek described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Franciszek at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White98.5% · 469
- Hispanic or Latino0.8% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 3
Popularity
Franciszek: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Franciszek from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 84 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Franciszek remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Franciszek by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Franciszek during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Franciszeks live
Origin
Meaning and history of Franciszek
The given name Franciszek originates from the Polish language and culture. It is a male name derived from the Latin name Franciscus, which itself comes from the Italian Franc'esco or the Germanic Frank'isk, meaning "Frenchman" or "free man."
The name gained widespread popularity in the Christian tradition due to its association with St. Francis of Assisi, who was born in 1181 or 1182 as Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone. He later adopted the name Francisco, and his life and teachings profoundly influenced the spread of this name across Europe.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Franciszek can be found in medieval Polish records from the 13th century. It was initially used among the nobility and gradually gained popularity among the commoners.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Franciszek. One of the most famous was Franciszek Zabłocki (1752-1821), a Polish playwright, and poet who significantly contributed to the development of the Polish Enlightenment and national theater.
Another prominent figure was Franciszek Józef Salezy Bohomolec (1720-1784), a Polish Jesuit priest, writer, and educator known for his satirical works and efforts to reform the education system.
In the realm of science, Franciszek Maksymilian Hubert Lubicz-Niezabitowski (1796-1846) was a Polish naturalist and explorer who made significant contributions to the study of fauna in South America.
The 20th century saw the rise of Franciszek Ksawery Gąsienica Gromnicki (1932-2004), a Polish mountaineer and author renowned for his daring expeditions and numerous books on mountaineering.
More recently, Franciszek Smuda (born 1948) is a former Polish football player and manager who led the Polish national team from 2009 to 2012.
People
Franciszek + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Franciszek as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with F
Other first names starting with F with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Franciszek: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Franciszek?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 127 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Franciszek going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 2,698,853 US residents.
Is Franciszek a common name?
We classify Franciszek as "Very Rare". It ranks above 68% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 133 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Franciszek most popular?
The single biggest year for Franciszek was 2017, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Franciszek is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Franciszek in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 476 people with the name Franciszek, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #21,371 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Franciszek in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Franciszek?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Franciszek appears almost entirely male. Of the 468 people counted with this name, 100.0% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Franciszek?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Franciszek is White at 98.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (0.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Franciszek most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Franciszek in the 2020 Census, accounting for 98.5% (469 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Franciszek in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Franciszek a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Franciszek in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Franciszek still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Franciszek in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Franciszek can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Franciszek?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.