Frances — #379 US girls' name
594,729 babies named Frances in U.S. Social Security records since 1880, with the highest year being 1918. Year-by-year trend, decade aggregates, and state-level rankings drawn from federal birth data.
More common than 98% of names given to girls today.
24% of everyone ever named Frances was born in this single decade.
16,131 babies were named Frances in 1918 — its busiest year on record.
What the Data Says About Frances
The Social Security Administration has registered 594,729 babies named Frances between 1880 and 2024, spanning 145 consecutive years of U.S. birth records. As a girl's name, Frances currently holds the #379 rank among girls for 2024. The name reached its historical peak in 1918, when 16,131 babies received it in a single year.
Decade-level aggregation shows that Frances performed strongest in the 1920s, accumulating 140,391 births during that ten-year window. Across the 15 decades of recorded activity, Frances shows a clear decline from its mid-century high. Geographically, the name is most concentrated in New York, which accounts for 59,912 births — the largest state-level total in the dataset — followed by Pennsylvania and Texas. In total, SSA state-level files list Frances in 51 of the 51 U.S. reporting jurisdictions.
No etymological entry is currently available for Frances in our reference dataset. These figures derive from SSA's annual national and state-level name files, which include any name appearing at least five times in a given year or state-year; names below that threshold are suppressed for privacy and therefore excluded from the totals shown here. The 594,729 total represents a lower bound — actual usage may be higher in years or states where the count fell below the disclosure floor. This page is provided for informational and research purposes only and does not constitute personal, legal, or naming advice.
Frances at a glance
Top 1,000 girls' namePeak year
Current rank
Active since
Frances popularity over time — girls
Annual U.S. births registered with the Social Security Administration · 2024–1880
- Peak year (1918)
- 16,131
- Annual births at peak — across 145 years of records
Currently ranks #379 among girls.
594,729 total births across 145 years of SSA records. Peaked in 1918 with 16,131 births in a single year.
Frances popularity over time — boys
5,017 total births recorded since 1880 (Frances as boys' name)
Unisex use remains the minority pattern
The boys' variant of Frances accounts for 1% of total recorded use across both genders.
Frances by decade
Total births in each ten-year window — peak vs trough at a glance
- Peak decade
- 1920s
- 140,391 births that decade — 24% of Frances's all-time total
Frances decade highlights
- Peak decade 140,391 births
- Runner-up 105,599 births
- Modern era share 2010s + 2020s
- Decades tracked with recorded births
1920s was Frances's strongest decade
140,391 babies received the name during that ten-year window — about 24% of all-time use.
Frances by state
Where Frances concentrates geographically — total births since 1880
| Rank | State | Visual share | Births | Share of total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | New York | | 59,912 | 10.1% |
| #2 | Pennsylvania | | 38,503 | 6.5% |
| #3 | Texas | | 32,628 | 5.5% |
| #4 | California | | 26,311 | 4.4% |
| #5 | Illinois | | 25,449 | 4.3% |
| #6 | North Carolina | | 22,071 | 3.7% |
| #7 | Ohio | | 20,117 | 3.4% |
| #8 | Georgia | | 19,682 | 3.3% |
59,912 of 594,729 births nationwide. Compared to a flat distribution across 51 reporting states.
Top 5 states
- New York 10.1% of nationwide
- Pennsylvania 6.5% of nationwide
- Texas 5.5% of nationwide
- California 4.4% of nationwide
- Illinois 4.3% of nationwide
Recorded in 51 of 51 SSA jurisdictions
New York accounts for 10.1% of all recorded births nationwide — a relatively diffuse profile for this name.
Frances appears in 51 states. Explore state details →
Frequently Asked Questions
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Data Sources
Data as of 2024. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA).
Primary: Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names from Social Security Card Applications — National Data, 1880–2024 (ssa.gov/oact/babynames). National-level data includes all names with 5 or more occurrences in a given year.
State-level: Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names — State-Level Files (namesbystate.zip). Includes all names with 5 or more occurrences per state per year; rarer names are excluded for privacy.