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- French - Last Name Meaning & Origin
French
- Used in: 3 countries
Origin: English
Inherited from Middle English Frenche, Frensch, Frensc, Frenshe, Frenk, Franche, from Old English Frenċisċ (“Frankish, French”), from Proto-West Germanic *Frankisk (“Frankish”), equivalent to Frank + -ish (compare Frankish). Cognate with Middle Low German vranksch, frenkisch, vrenkesch, vrenksch (“Frankish, French”), Middle High German vrenkisch, vrensch ("Frankish, Franconian; > German fränkisch (“Frankish, Franconian”)), Danish fransk (“French”), Swedish fransk, fransysk (“French”), Icelandic franska (“French”). Doublet of Frankish; piecewise doublet of Francis, Franz, and Francisco, which are derived from Late Latin Franciscus In reference to vulgar language, from expressions such as pardon my French in the early 19th century, originally in reference to actual (but often mildly impolite) French expressions by the upper class, subsequently adopted ironically by the lower class for English curse words under the charitable conceit that the listener would not be familiar with them. In reference to vermouth, a shortened form of French vermouth, distinguished as usually being drier than Italian vermouth.
Etymology: Wiktionary (CC-BY-SA)
Name Variants & Related
Popularity by Country
French
Rank #473
Frequency
63,149 people (23.41 per 100k)
Ethnic Distribution
White 87.74% Hispanic 1.52% Black 7.65% Asian/PI 0.49% Native Am. 1.04% Two+ 1.56%
French
Rank #706
Frequency
0.04% of population
Popularity Over Time (Scotland)
Similar Names to French
Last names that start with F, sorted by popularity.