Francesca
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The story
Francesca is the Italian feminine of Francesco, and like it means simply the French one, from the same root that gave us frank and France. Its most unforgettable bearer lives in a poem. In Dante's Inferno, Francesca da Rimini is the noblewoman swept forever on the winds of the second circle for a love affair begun over a book, and her speech is so tender that Dante faints with pity as she finishes. The name has carried that mix of romance and grace ever after, worn by artists and aristocrats across Italy. In the United States Francesca reads as current as ever, buoyed by a wide love of full Italian names. Elegant, literary and warm, with the ready nicknames Fran and Cesca, it hands a child a heroine of the greatest poem in Italian and a byword for the beauty of the mother tongue.
Francesca in song
Francesca
Hozier (2023)
Hozier rewrites the Francesca of Dante's Inferno, damned for love, and lets her say she would go through it all again.
How popular is Francesca around the world?
In the United States, 5,015 babies were named Francesca between 2020 and 2025. In Argentina, 1,712 newborns were given the name Francesca in 2024.
Francesca is on the official records of the United States, Argentina, Montevideo, England and Wales, Scotland, New Zealand, Chile, Canada, Ireland, Spain, South Australia, Austria, Mexico City, France, Poland and Brazil.
Francesca crosses languages: it is in the latest top 300 of an English-speaking birth record and of a Spanish-speaking one. The full list: English and Spanish
United States
1 in 4,300
In the United States, 5,015 babies were named Francesca between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Francesca peaked in the 2010s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure. In US birth records Francesca has stayed between 989 and 7,019 births in every decade since the 1950s: a name everyone knows and few children get.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Argentina
1 in 390
In Argentina, 1,712 newborns were given the name Francesca in 2024.
share of that year’s name registrations
Given-name components of births in Argentina 2012–2024; national cells are lower bounds and no sex split is published. Source: RENAPER (Argentina), Dirección Nacional de Población, given names 2012-2024
Montevideo City
1 in 1,1002011
In Montevideo, 22 girls named Francesca were born in 2011, spelling variants counted together.
share of that year’s births on record
Births in the department of Montevideo (not all of Uruguay) by first name and year of birth, 1940–2011, from the city’s civil registry, which writes names in capitals, almost always without accents; counted as spelling groups (accent and punctuation variants merged), nothing is withheld at source, and 2012 is excluded as a partial year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil, Intendencia de Montevideo, Partidas de Registro Civil de Montevideo (Licencia de Datos Abiertos - Uruguay); 2012 dropped as partial
England and Wales
1 in 1,300
In England and Wales, 434 girls named Francesca were born in 2025, the 107th most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
Scotland
1 in 1,600
In Scotland, 28 girls named Francesca were registered in 2024, the 152nd most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names
New Zealand
1 in 3,200
In New Zealand, 18 girls named Francesca were registered in 2025.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from New Zealand birth registrations, grouped by registration year; any name under 10 in a year is excluded at source. Shares divide by Stats NZ’s count of births registered to mothers living in New Zealand, under 1% below the registry’s own count. Source: Department of Internal Affairs (New Zealand), baby name popularity over time
Chile
1 in 3,900
In Chile, 46 girls were registered as Francesca in 2021, every accent spelling counted together.
share of that year’s name registrations
First-name registrations with Chile’s civil registry by year of registration, 1920–2021, counted as spelling groups (Sofía, Sofia and Sofìa are one name, shown with its most-registered spelling); the registry withholds nothing, nametree keeps the groups that reached 5 registrations in some year, and shares divide by every registration of the year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil e Identificación (Chile) via the guaguas package, first-name registrations 1920-2021
Canada
1 in 5,800
In Canada, 63 girls named Francesca were born in 2024, the 469th most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
Ireland
1 in 6,800
In Ireland, 8 girls named Francesca were born in 2025, the 443rd most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Exact registered spellings from Irish vital statistics; any name under 3 in a year is withheld at source, and accented spellings (fadas) are recorded reliably only from 2018. Source: Central Statistics Office (Ireland), Irish babies' names
Spain
1 in 8,900
In Spain, 5,056 residents are named Francesca, the 462nd most common name among women, with a mean age of 49.8 years.
Residents of Spain on 1 January 2025. Spain publishes how old a name’s living bearers are, not a birth series, so there is no year chart. Source: INE (Spain), Censo de Población anual, 1 January 2025
South Australia
1 in 9,2002017
In South Australia, 2 girls were registered as Francesca in 2017.
share of that year’s name registrations
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
Austria
1 in 15,000
In Austria, 5 girls named Francesca were born in 2025, the 742nd most common name among girls that year, spellings that differ only by special characters counted together.
share of that year’s births on record
Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)
Mexico City City
1 in 17,000
In Mexico City, there were 7 registrations of Francesca in 2022.
share of that year’s registrations in the city
Civil-registry acts in Mexico City by registration year. Counts are lower bounds (names under 6 in a month and borough are removed at source) and count name-instances, not people; compound names are split, so “Maria Jose” counts under each part. 2023 (1 registration through 3 Mar) is excluded as partial. Source: Registro Civil of Mexico City, open data portal, registered given names 2000-2023
France
1 in 18,000
In France, about 35 girls named Francesca were born in 2025, ranked 1,011th among girls that year.
share of that year’s births on record
Births in France by year of birth, from INSEE’s fichier des prénoms (1900–2025; Mayotte from 2012); exact spellings count separately (Léo and Leo are different names), any spelling under 3 in a year and sex is withheld at source, every count is rounded to the nearest 5 at source, and nametree keeps the spellings that reached 20 in some year. Shares divide by INSEE’s count of births in France from 1957, and before that by the file’s own total for the year; INSEE says the file is not complete before 1946. Source: Insee, fichier des prénoms (last updated 2026-07-16)
Poland
1 in 62,000
In Poland, 4 girls named Francesca were born in 2025, the 498th most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First names given to children born in Poland by year of birth, 2000–2025, from the PESEL population register (Ministry of Digital Affairs); exact spellings count separately (Łukasz and Lukasz are different names), names given fewer than 5 times in a year were left off the list through 2012 and fewer than 2 times from 2013, and the register also counts children born abroad, so its yearly sums run above Poland’s live births. Shares divide by the register’s own published total for the year, never by births. Source: Ministry of Digital Affairs, PESEL register (dane.gov.pl)
Brazil
1 in 200,000
At the 2022 census, 1,074 people in Brazil were named Francesca, ranked 7,873rd, with a median age of 30.
Among people named Francesca living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1980s than in any other decade.
people alive at the 2022 census, by decade of birth
The census also counted 63 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart. People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
Not on the record in Puerto Rico: that registry withholds small counts, so rare uses may sit below its floor.
Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
When you meet Francesca
Most people given the name Francesca in the United States are teenagers or young adults today.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
Keep exploring
Nicknames for Francesca · Italian Brazilian baby names · Italian baby names · Romantic names · Familiar but never popular
The Francesca deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Francesca truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Francesca fits with your family’s names and surname.
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