How common is the surname Franco?

69,943 people in the United States had the surname Franco in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 4,414 Americans. It ranked 476th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Franco?

James Franco, American actor (born 1978), followed by Itamar Franco.

Where is the surname Franco most common?

Wikidata records people named Franco in the United States, Brazil and Argentina and 2 other countries.

Is the surname Franco getting more or less common?

More common. 53,161 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 69,943 in 2010, up 32%.

Is Franco also a first name?

Yes. Franco is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.

The surname Franco

A Spanish surname, carried by 69,943 people in the United States.

2 syllables Soundex F652 Also a first name

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Franco is more common than 99.7% of them.

Origin

Spanish origin

A surname from Spanish.

One of 992 Spanish surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 69,943 people named Franco in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 4,414 Americans. That is up 32% since 2000, when the Census counted 53,161.

#476

rank among US surnames

69,943

people in 2010

per 100,000 Americans

+31.6%

change since 2000 (was #571)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#467	Tate	71,058	4,345
#468	Mack	71,056	4,345
#469	Sherman	70,502	4,379
#470	Hubbard	70,362	4,388
#471	Hodges	70,223	4,397
#472	Zhang	70,125	4,403
#473	Guerra	70,071	4,406

Who is named Franco

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

81% of people named Franco identified as Hispanic or Latino (any race), 16% as white (not Hispanic) and 1.7% as Asian and Pacific Islander.

Hispanic or Latino (any race) 81%
White (not Hispanic) 16%
Asian and Pacific Islander 1.7%
Black (not Hispanic) 0.6%
Two or more races 0.5%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.3%

Compare: most common surnames among Hispanic and Latino Americans.

Famous Francos

14 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

James Franco
American actor (born 1978)
Itamar Franco
Brazilian politician (1930-2011)
Dave Franco
American actor, born 1985
Federico Franco
49th President of Paraguay, born 1962
Leo Franco
Argentine footballer, born 1977
Eduardo Franco
American actor, born 1994
Antonio Franco
Apostolic nuncio, born 1937
Larry J. Franco
American film producer, born 1949
Germaine Franco
American film composer, born 1967
Divaldo Franco
Brazilian spiritualist, 1927–2025
Suely Franco
Brazilian actress, born 1939
Eva Franco
Argentinian actress (1906-1999)

Notable Francos come mostly from the United States (5), Brazil (5) and Argentina (2).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Franco

Franco has the Soundex code F652, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code F652.

Other Spanish surnames

All 992 Spanish surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Franco come from?: Franco is Spanish in origin.
How common is the surname Franco?: 69,943 people in the United States had the surname Franco in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 4,414 Americans. It ranked 476th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Franco?: In the 2010 Census, 81% of people named Franco identified as Hispanic or Latino (any race), and 16% as white (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Franco?: James Franco, American actor (born 1978), followed by Itamar Franco.
Where is the surname Franco most common?: Wikidata records people named Franco in the United States, Brazil and Argentina and 2 other countries.
Is the surname Franco getting more or less common?: More common. 53,161 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 69,943 in 2010, up 32%.
Is Franco also a first name?: Yes. Franco is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.