Franciscus History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
Italy

A variety of distinguished and notable names have emerged from the beautiful and historical Italian region of Tuscany, including the notable surname Franciscus. During the Middle Ages, as populations grew and travel between regions became more frequent, the people of Tuscany, who were originally known only by a single name, found it necessary to adopt a second name to identify themselves and their families. This process of adopting fixed hereditary surnames in Italy began in the 10th and 11th centuries, but it was not completed until the modern era. The development of Italian hereditary surnames followed general principles and were characterized by derivatives from one's given name. The patronymic surname, which is derived from the father's given name, was one of the most common name types found in the region of Tuscany. This system of name-making was widely used because it linked well with the existing Feudal System and during the Christian era, many people named their children after saints and biblical figures. The surname Franciscus came from the very popular medieval given name Francis, which itself was originally derived from the Latin Franciscus. This was originally a name for a Frenchman.

Early Origins of the Franciscus family

The surname Franciscus was first found in Siena where Bartolomeo di Francesco lived in 1349.

Early History of the Franciscus family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Franciscus research. The years 1415, 1443, 1468, 1492, 1530, 1540, 1552, 1570, 1580, 1596, 1599, 1611, 1648, 1650, 1680, 1689 and 1729 are included under the topic Early Franciscus History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Franciscus Spelling Variations

There are many variations of most of those Italian names that originated in the medieval era. Some of these come from regional differences, like the tradition of ending northern names in "o" and southern names in "i". Others come from inaccuracies in the recording process, which were extremely common in the eras before dictionaries standardized spelling. Some of the spelling variations of Franciscus are Franceschi, Francesco, Francesca, De Franceschi, De Francesco, De Francisci, De Franciscis, Di Francesco, Francescatti, Franchetti, Franciscello, Franceschelli, Franceschetti, Franceschetto, Franceschet, Franceschini, Franceschin, Franceschinel, Francescotti, Francesconi, Francescon, Francescato, Cecchi, Ceschi, Checchi, Chini and many more.

Early Notables of the Franciscus family

Prominent among members of the family was Piero della Francesca (c. 1415-1492), was an Early Renaissance painter is famous for his depiction of perspective. He also wrote several books on this subject. Francesco de Franceschi (active 1443-1468) was an Italian Renaissance painter. Francesco Franceschi (died c. 1599) was a printer in the Italian Renaissance and patriarch of the Franceschi printing family. Paolo dei Franceschi (c. 1540 - 1596), was a Flemish painter. Doctor Flaminio Franceschini was a law professor at the University of Padua in 1580. Vittore de Franceschi was a Roman Catholic prelate who served...
Another 95 words (7 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Franciscus Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Franciscus migration to the United States +

The records on immigrants and ships' passengers show a number of people bearing the name Franciscus:

Franciscus Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

Francis Franciscus, who arrived in Maryland in 1668 1

Contemporary Notables of the name Franciscus (post 1700) +

James Grover Franciscus (1934-1991), American actor, best known for his starring roles in Mr. Novak, The Naked City, The Investigators, and Longstreet
Gustave Franciscus De Smet (1877-1943), Belgian painter
Claudius Franciscus Gagnières des Granges (1722-1792), French Jesuit priest from Chambéry; he one of the 191 victims of the September Massacres during the French Revolution, he was beatified by Pope Pius XI in 1926
Franciscus Bernardus Maria "Frans" de Waal (1948-2024), Dutch primatologist and ethologist, Charles Howard Candler Professor of Primate Behavior in the Department of Psychology at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia
Franciscus Vieta (1540-1603), French mathematician
Franciscus Bernardus Jacobus Kuiper (1907-2003), Dutch Indologist
Franciscus Cornelis Donders (1818-1889), Dutch oculist

Citations +

Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)