Franciszek

Franciszek comes from the Latin Franciscus, which first meant "Frenchman." Only later did the sense of "free man" settle onto it, borrowed from the Franks, whose name came to stand for freedom. So one word came to hold two meanings.

In Poland the name has a long roster of bearers. Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin carried it as his middle name. Its imieniny falls on the fourth of October, the feast of Francis of Assisi, the merchant's son who gave up his coin. On a school register in Kraków a Franciszek rarely stays a Franciszek past the first bell.

The name bends easily into smaller shapes. Franka and Frania do the everyday work, quick to call across a yard. The feminine form is Franciszka, and the same Latin root, travelling into Italian, gives Francesca. All of them trace back to that first blunt meaning: Frenchman, and then free man.