Given name & surname
French
“a man from France”
French is used as a given name and a surname. One English interpretation is “a man from France.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
One English interpretation is “a man from France.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is English.
How it developed
From Old English Frencisċ, from Proto-West Germanic *Frankisk, built from English Frank + -ish.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1882. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
French through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 1,129
- 1,119 boys · 10 girls
- Most popular year
- 1920
- 35 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 7 in 1999. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for boys was 31 in 1915. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 470 as a first name in 2020; 61,329 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
French’s family of names
In English usage, French as a surname shares an earlier linguistic root with FRANKISH. French has a related form in Frances. In English usage, French as a surname has a related form in FFRENCH.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 21
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 19
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named French
- French StewartAmerican actorborn 1964
- French HillU.S. Representative from Arkansasborn 1956
- French Ensor ChadwickUS naval officer1844–1919
- French ForrestUnited States and Confederate Navy officer1796–1866
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love French, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Freeman
“one who is free”
>99% boys
Elden
“an old friend”
>99% boys
Edmond
“a wealthy protector”
>99% boys
Yates
“keeper of the gates”
>99% boys
Elroy
“a red-haired young man” · “a king”
>99% boys
Wilfred
“one who wishes for peace”
>99% boys
Erwin
“a friend of the wild boar”
>99% boys
Worth
“enclosure”
>99% boys