Meanings
Frances1
- A female given name from Latin, masculine equivalent Francis.
Armado. Sirrah Costard, I will enfranchise thee. Costard. O! marry me to one Frances: I smell some l'envoy, some goose, in this.
c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]3 more examples
"My name is Frances. Don't call me Fanny!" "Why not?" "Because it's too absurd to be endured! What does the mere sound of Fanny suggest? A flirting dancing creature - plump and fair, and playful and pretty! - - - Call me Frances - a man's name, with only the difference between an i and an e. No sentiment in it, hard, like me."
1883, Wilkie Collins, Heart and Science, Chatto and Windus, page 227My other sisters had interesting names. There was Francie, that was Frances, and though she wore slacks and my father seemed angry with her, I thought she was some relation to Saint Francis, who, I believed, kept animals in his pocket and took them out and licked them, the way Francie licked a blackball or acid drop, for pure love.
1961, Janet Frame, Owls Do Cry, →ISBN, page 97The DSA became a legislative priority for the European Commission after the 2021 Facebook leak, when whistleblower Frances Haugen revealed Facebook and its parent company Meta knowingly prioritized profit over addressing rampant disinformation and racist hate speech on the platform.
2023 May 27, Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert, “Elon Musk pulled Twitter from the EU's anti-disinformation agreement and continues to troll with alt-right memes and dogwhistles. It could be a sign he'll close the site to Europe completely”, in Business Insider, archived from the original on 04 Aug 2023 - rareA male given name, variant of Francis.
The highly anticipated all-American matchup between Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe — marking the first US Open semifinals between two US men in nearly 20 years — will cost you quite a few Honey Deuces to attend.
2024 September 6, Jordan Valinsky, “Ticket prices for the all-American men’s matchup at the US Open are surging”, in CNN Business, archived from the original on 23 May 2025 - A town in south-east South Australia, on the border with Victoria.
Frances2
- pluralplural of France
Was it the end of the long conflict between the two Frances? Yes and no.
2013, Making Sense of the Secular: Critical Perspectives, →ISBN, page 482 more examples
The malaise of French politics has commonly been interpreted as a product of a deep-seated conflict between the ‘two Frances’.
1967, Eric A. Nordlinger, The Working-class Tories, page 236Although scholars have offered different chronologies and causalities for the move toward modernity, most have resolved the paradox of the two Frances by placing them in sequence: "diverse France gave way over time as modern centralized France gathered force."
1998, Shanny Peer, France on Display: Peasants, Provincials, and Folklore, →ISBN, page 2
Origin
- Late LatinFranciscus“Frankish”
- Old FrenchFranceise
- EnglishFrances
From Old French Franceise, feminine form of Franceis, from Late Latin Franciscus (“Frankish”). Doublet of Francesca and Francisca.
More words from Old French, Late Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian Фра́нсис, Франци́ска
- Фра́нсис (Fránsis)feminine form of Francis
- Франци́ска (Francíska)feminine form of Francis
- Франче́ска (Frančéska)feminine form of Francis
Catalan Francesca
- Francescafeminine form of Francis
Chinese Mandarin 弗朗西絲 /弗朗西丝
- 弗朗西絲 /弗朗西丝 (Fúlǎngxīsī)feminine form of Francis
Czech Františka
- Františkafeminine form of Francis
Danish Francisca
- Franciscafeminine form of Francis
Dutch Fransje
- Fransjefeminine form of Francis
Esperanto Franciska
- Franciskafeminine form of Francis
French Françoise
- Françoisefeminine form of Francis
German Franziska
- Franziskafeminine form of Francis
Hungarian Franciska
- Franciskafeminine form of Francis
Irish Proinséas
- Proinséasfeminine form of Francis
Italian Francesca
- Francescafeminine form of Francis
Japanese フランシス
- フランシス (Furanshisu)feminine form of Francis
Polish Franciszka
- Franciszkafeminine form of Francis
Portuguese Francisca
- Franciscafeminine form of Francis
Russian Фра́нсис, Фра́нсес
- Фра́нсис (Fránsis)feminine form of Francis
- Фра́нсес (Fránses)feminine form of Francis
- Фрэ́нсис (Frɛ́nsis)feminine form of Francis
- Франци́ска (Francíska)feminine form of Francis
- Франче́ска (Frančéska)feminine form of Francis
- Франсуа́за (Fransuáza)feminine form of Francis
Slovak Františka
- Františkafeminine form of Francis
Spanish Francisca
- Franciscafeminine form of Francis
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
Frances. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Frances
“Frances.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Frances. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Frances,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Frances.
Source: Frances on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.