The Franca surname
In the 2010 U.S. Census, 581 people carried this name — #38,155 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 500,000 people counted. About the same as in 2000 (583).
Where the name comes from
The origin of the Franca surname
Borrowed from Catalan, Italian and Spanish Franca or, alternatively, from Portuguese França.
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «Franca» (English), by Wiktionary contributors · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · excerpt, lightly adapted.
In Argentina’s national register
At least 256 people named Franca live in Argentina.
RENAPER only publishes a name in a province when more than ten people there share it, so the real number is higher. Most of them live in Buenos Aires Province.
Where it concentrates, on the mapWhere they live today
RENAPER (National Registry of Persons, Argentina), surnames of residents by province, December 2021 — CC BY 4.0.
In Switzerland’s population statistics
103 people named Franca live in Switzerland.
They live in 12 of Switzerland’s 26 cantons, most of all in Geneva.
Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.
Where they live today
Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO), «Surnames of the permanent resident population by canton», 2025, opendata.swiss/en/dataset/nachnamen-der-standigen-wohnbevolkerung-nach-kanton3 · names with fewer than 3 bearers in a canton are not published.
In France’s civil register
France’s register of deaths holds 62 people named Franca.
17 of them were born outside France. Those born in France came from 6 départements, most often Alpes-Maritimes.
Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.
Where they were born
Fichier des personnes décédées, INSEE — Licence Ouverte 2.0 · deaths recorded in France since 1970, by place of birth.
In the Nordic population registers
53 people named Franca is counted in Sweden.
Sweden’s figure is from 31 December 2022, the last count Statistics Sweden published.
Counted, by country
Own calculations based on data from Statistics Sweden (SCB), surnames with at least two bearers, 31 December 2022 — CC BY 4.0 (names with 20 or more bearers shown).
In print
Franca in American newspapers,
1879–1958.
Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 110,459 pages in all carry the name.
Who carried it
People named Franca,
with a public archive behind them.
-
Carlos França 1877–1926 · phycologist -
Porfirio Franca 1878–1950 · businessperson -
Lia Franca 1912–1988 · actor -
Celia Franca 1921–2007 · ballet dancer -
Olga Franca 1960– · politician -
Aldo Franca 1903– · politician
Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons (CC0) · 31 lives in all are documented under this name.
Nearby in the index
Surnames next to Franca.
- Frain 1,491 · U.S. census
- Fraioli 529 · U.S. census
- Fraise 357 · U.S. census
- Fraize 278 · U.S. census
- Fralin 654 · U.S. census
- Franc 432 · U.S. census
- Francart 142 · U.S. census
- Francavilla 447 · U.S. census
- France 11,937 · U.S. census
- Frances 2,222 · U.S. census
- Franceschetti 113 · U.S. census
- Franceschi 1,243 · U.S. census
When the index is not enough
This page says where Franca is.
A volume says what happened to it.
Every page in the index is free and stays free. The Heritage Volume is the long form: the full paper trail, the arms, the crossing — bound, and yours.