Frances

Frances is an English given name or last name of Latin origin. In Latin the meaning of the name Frances is 'from France' or 'the French.'¹ The male version of the name in English is Francis. The original Franciscus, meaning "Frenchman", comes from the Franks, originally meaning "free." ²

Notable people and characters with the name include:

• Frances, Countess of Périgord (died 1481)
• Frances of Rome (1384–1440), Italian saint, mystic, organizer of charitable services and Benedictine oblate who founded a religious community of oblates
• Frances (musician) (born 1993), British singer and songwriter

• Frances Abington (1737–1815), English actress
• Frances Dorothy Acomb (1907–1984), American historian
• Frances Alda (1879–1952), New Zealand-born, Australian-raised operatic lyric soprano
• Frances Allitsen (1848–1912), English composer
• Frances Allen (1932–2020), American computer scientist and pioneer in the field of optimizing compilers
• Frances Arnold (born 1956), American chemical engineer and Nobel Laureate
• Dame Frances Ashcroft (born 1952), British ion channel physiologist
• Frances Atkins, British chef
• Lady Frances Balfour (1858–1931), British aristocrat, author, and suffragist
• Frances Barkman (1885–1946), Russian-born Australian schoolteacher and Jewish community worker
• Frances Aviva Blane, British abstract painter
• Frances Catherine Barnard (1796–1869), English author
• Frances Elizabeth Barrow (1822–1894), American children's writer
• Frances Bavier (1902–1989), American stage and television actress
• Frances Estill Beauchamp (1860–1923), American temperance activist, social reformer, lecturer
• Frances Bergen (1922–2006), American actress and fashion model
• Frances Black (born 1960), Irish singer
• Frances (Fanny) Brawne (1800–1865), fiancée of Romantic poet John Keats
• Frances Brody, English novelist and playwright
• Frances Brooke (1724–1789), English novelist, essayist, playwright and translator
• Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849–1924), English playwright and author
• Frances Burney (1752–1840), English novelist, diarist and playwright
• Frances E. Burns (1866–1937), American social leader and business executive
• Frances Xavier Cabrini (1850–1917), Italian-American Roman Catholic nun and saint
• Frances Boyd Calhoun (1867–1909), American author
• Frances Manwaring Caulkins (1795–1869), American historian, genealogist, author
• Frances Burke, Countess of Clanricarde (1567–1633), English noblewoman and Irish countess
• Frances Hyde, Countess of Clarendon (c. 1617–1667), mother-in-law of King James II of England and maternal grandmother of Mary II and Queen Anne
• Frances Cavenaugh, American politician
• Frances Bean Cobain (born 1992), American artist, daughter of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain and singer Courtney Love
• Frances Newton, Lady Cobham (1539–1592), one of the closest friends of Queen Elizabeth I of England
• Frances Augusta Hemingway Conant (1842–1903), American journalist, editor, businesswoman
• Frances Conroy (born 1953), American actress
• Frances Cornford (1886–1960), English poet
• Frances Lewis Brackett Damon (1857–1939), American poet, writer
• Frances Davidson, Viscountess Davidson (1894–1985), British politician and Member of Parliament
• Frances Dickinson (1856–1945), American physician, clubwoman
• Frances Dodge (1914–1971), American internationally known horsewoman
• Frances Egerton, Countess of Bridgewater (May 1583 – 11 March 1636), English noblewoman, art patron and book collector
• Frances Ekstam (1914–2005), American founder of the physical therapy program at Indiana University School of Medicine
• Frances Adler Elkins (1888–1953), interior designer
• Frances Farmer (1913–1970), American actress
• Frances Fisher (born 1952), American actress
• Frances Scott Fitzgerald (1921–1986), American journalist
• Frances FitzGerald (journalist) (born 1940), American journalist and author
• Frances Fitzgerald (politician) (born 1950), Irish Fine Gael politician
• Frances Forbes-Robertson (1866–1956), British novelist
• Frances X. Frei, American academic and businesswoman
• Frances Elizabeth Fryatt, American author, editor, specialist in household applied arts
• Frances Nimmo Greene (1867–1937), American educator and author
• Frances Irene Burge Griswold (1826–1900), American poet, author
• Frances Haugen (born 1983 or 1984), American data engineer and scientist, product manager, and whistleblower
• Frances Ridley Havergal (1836–1879), English hymnwriter, religious poet
• Frances Elizabeth Herring (1851-1916), Canadian journalist and novelist
• Frances Holk-Jones, member of the Alabama House of Representatives
• Frances Anne Hopkins (1838–1919), British painter
• Frances C. Jenkins (1826–1915), American evangelist, Quaker minister, and social reformer
• Frances Benjamin Johnston (1864–1952), American photographer and photojournalist
• Frances Môn Jones (1919–2000), Welsh harpist and teacher
• Frances Kirwan (born 1959), British mathematician
• Frances Shand Kydd (1936–2004), British viscountess, mother of Diana, Princess of Wales
• Frances Lanitou, Cypriot diplomat
• Frances Latham (1610–1677), colonial woman in Rhode Island known as "the Mother of Governors" for having 10 governors among her direct descendants
• Frances Lupton (1821–1892), English reformer for female education
• Frances MacDonald (1873–1921), Scottish artist
• Frances Laughton Mace (1836–1899), American poet
• Frances Harrison Marr (1835–1918), American poet
• Frances McDormand (born 1957), American actress
• Frances Gertrude McGill (1882–1959), pioneering Canadian forensic pathologist and criminologist
• Frances McKee (born 1966), Scottish musician, guitarist for Scottish indie band The Vaselines
• Frances Margaret Milne (1846–1910), Irish-born American writer and librarian
• Frances Trego Montgomery (1858–1925), American children's book writer
• Frances Charlotte Naish (1908–1959), British physician who pioneered aspects of infant health research
• Frances Nelson (1761–1831), wife of Admiral Horatio Nelson
• Frances North (1919–2003), American politician
• Frances Osborne (born 1969), British author
• Frances Perkins (1880–1965), the U.S. Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945, the longest serving in that position, and the first woman appointed to the U.S. Cabinet
• Frances Folsom Cleveland Preston (1864–1947), wife of US President Grover Cleveland
• Frances Quinlan (born 1986), American musician
• Frances Stewart, Duchess of Richmond (1647–1702), as known as 'La Belle Stuart', the face of Britannia
• Frances Rutherford (1912–2006), New Zealand artist and occupational therapist
• Frances Schreuder (1938–2004), American murderer in the Franklin Bradshaw murder
• Frances Alice Shepherd, Canadian academic
• Frances Simpson (ca. 1857 - 1926), English writer, journalist, cat show judge, and cat breeder
• Frances Carr, Countess of Somerset (1590–1632), central figure in a famous scandal and murder
• Frances Seymour, Duchess of Somerset (1599–1674), English noblewoman
• Frances Lee Strong or Grandma Lee (1934–2020), American comedian
• Frances Grey, Duchess of Suffolk (1517–1559), granddaughter of Henry VII of England and mother of Queen Jane Grey
• Frances T. Sullivan, New York State assemblywoman 1991–2002
• Frances Radclyffe, Countess of Sussex (1531–1589), Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Elizabeth I
• Frances Sweeney (1908–1944), American journalist and anti-fascist activist
• Frances L. Swift (1837–1916), American church and temperance leader
• Francie Swift (born 1969 or 1970), born Frances Swift, American actress
• Frances Tiafoe (born 1998), American tennis player (male)
• Frances Christine Fisher Tiernan (1846–1920), American novelist and author under the pen name Christian Reid
• Frances E. Townsley (1850–1909), American Baptist minister
• Frances Trollope (1779–1863), English novelist and writer, mother of novelist and writer Anthony Trollope
• Frances Eleanor Trollope (1835–1913), sister of Ellen Ternan (Charles Dickens' mistress) and sister-in-law of Anthony Trollope
• Frances Talbot, Countess of Tyrconnell (c. 1647–1730), English courtier and Irish countess
• Frances Vane, Viscountess Vane (1715–1788), British memoirist known for her highly public adulterous relationships
• Frances Waldegrave (1821–1879), Countess Waldegrave, British heiress and society hostess
• Frances Wessells (1919–2024), American dancer, choreographer, and associate professor
• Frances Willard (1839–1898), American educator, temperance reformer and women's suffragist
• Frances Williams (disambiguation), multiple people
• Frances Yip (born 1947), Hong Kong singer

• Frances "Frankie" Foster, from the 2004 Cartoon Network series Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends
• Frances Badger, the title character in the children's book series by Russell Hoban
• Frances Buffay, Phoebe Buffay's adoptive grandmother in NBC sitcom Friends
• Frances Earnshaw, from the novel Wuthering Heights
• Frances "Baby" Houseman (portrayed by Jennifer Grey), from the movie Dirty Dancing
• Frances, in the anime Sonic X
• Frances "Franny" Glass, from Franny and Zooey
• Mary Frances "Francie" Nolan, from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
• Frances Stevens, played by Grace Kelly in Hitchcock's To Catch a Thief
• Frances Ha, the title character, played by Greta Gerwig, in the 2012 American black and white comedy-drama film, Frances Ha
• Frances "Frankie" Heck, played by Patricia Heaton on the ABC sitcom The Middle
• Frances the Firefly, the protagonist in a fire safety public information film
• Frances Flynn, the protagonist of the novel Conversations with Friends. Played by Alison Oliver in the TV adaptation of the same name.