Franciszek
From the Latin for "free man" or "Frenchman". It sits just outside Poland's hundred most-given boys' names and holds steady there, common enough that you've almost certainly met one.
Franciszek Pronunciation
Franciszek is pronounced frahn-CHEE-shek (/franˈt͡ɕiʂɛk/).
What Franciszek means
Where Franciszek comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
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.
How many people are named Franciszek
1 in 154 men in Poland is named Franciszek. 138,517 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #102 among male names.
Franciszek's popularity over time
4,548 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #6 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2000.
Where Franciszek is most popular
Franciszek is given fairly evenly across Poland, with no strong regional preference. It leans slightly toward Świętokrzyskie (13% above the national average) and is least common in Lubusz (16% below).
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Świętokrzyskie1,172 boys born+13%
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Subcarpathian2,403 boys born+7%
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Masovian7,001 boys born+6%
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Greater Poland4,274 boys born+6%
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Lublin1,997 boys born+4%
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Łódź2,469 boys born+4%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian2,056 boys born+1%
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Lesser Poland4,241 boys born0%
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Warmian-Masurian1,335 boys born0%
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West Pomeranian1,495 boys born−5%
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Silesian4,018 boys born−5%
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Opole810 boys born−6%
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Podlaskie1,159 boys born−6%
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Pomeranian2,578 boys born−6%
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Lower Silesian2,540 boys born−13%
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Lubusz781 boys born−16%
Franciszek as a middle name
Franciszek is a first name for 138,517 men in Poland and a middle name for another 145,791, a 49/51 split — almost evenly. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 20th, between Antoni (150,754) and Marian (145,747).
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18
165,202Tadeusz
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19
150,754Antoni
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20145,791Franciszek
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21
145,747Marian
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22
137,852Jakub
When Franciszek celebrates name day
Franciszek appears 9 times in the Polish name day calendar. The main date is 29 January.