the Franks Surname Origin and Meaning...
This site in no way aims to be a definitive one, it simply sets out the information I have to date and begs a few questions. My main interest is 'Franks' of Nottinghamshire with a general interest in the origin and distribution of the name within the British Isles.
Thomas Gray
1821 - 1901
Helen Franks
(nee Gray)
1877 - 1955
Sarah Gray
(nee Taylor)
1842 -
The two most commonly heard comments about the surname Franks are that: ...it originates from Charlemagne or it is Jewish. Both are wrong! There was a 'Franks' tribe several centuries before surnames became commonplace, (although the Latin origin of the name may have been applied later to 'free men'). Whilst there are Jewish 'Franks' (19C immigrants from continental Europe, mainly into the London area), early English parish records show 'Franks' as communicants with Christian denominations.
It has been suggested that the name could be thought of as meaning 'free' (as in being a 'free man' not a serf), an origin of 'spear thrower' for the word is also possible. However, I believe a 'frank' is also a cow shed. Could it be that the name, being geographically so distributed as shown on the maps page, is related to this aspect of farming?
The main reason for posting this site is to seek information on the question - what is the best possible origin for the name Franks? Please contact me, or leave a comment , if you can add information to this site.
The maps page shows the distribution of all the records of the name 'Frank' and its variants taken from data collected from an available version of the IGI. This data set is incomplete as I know there are other records which are not shown in the map. From these data it can be seen that although the name is widely distributed it is concentrated in the central and eastern counties of England. Does this give a clue to the origin of the name?