Frances Coat of Arms and Surname Origin

Spellings drift, and Frances is where Francis drifted for some families. The name is usually explained as “Frenchman”.

• Regional accents shaped spellings long before dictionaries fixed them.
• Spelled with “e” instead of “i”, Frances shows how the same name was heard and written differently.
• 2,222 Americans were listed as Frances in the 2010 census. In Spain, the INE population register lists 7,237 people with Frances as their first surname and 7,381 as their second.

Heraldry and the Frances name

Heraldry is personal: arms associated with the Francis surname were borne by specific families, and sharing the name does not mean sharing the blazon. Want more than a summary? See the Frances family name pack.