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[Opinions] Frances
I despise Frances but I just realized that many of my friends (from the UK) have this as their middle name. So I thought I'd ask what your opinions on it are. If you are from the UK, have you encountered it much? As a middle name? I was surprised it was so common in the middle.What do you think of Frances?I could never warm up to it but I do like Francesca. I also like Fanny in theory but would never use it.
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I used to despise it long ago, and now it’s in my top 10. I love the nicknames Fran and Franny.Similarly, I also used to hate Veronica, and now I like it, especially with the nickname Ronnie.Francesca is too clunky for me.
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I think it's very beautiful, I've always liked it and can def see myself using it as a fn if I ever have kids. I hate Francesca: imo perfect name for a spoiled rich girl who goes to a fancy boarding school in Switzerland. Fanny is adorable. I don't get all the hate for it. I also love the nns Fran & Frannie/Franny and Frankie.ETA: my best friend and I both admit to having girl crushes on Francine from Arthur lollll...

This message was edited 1/22/2021, 3:38 PM

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At first I didn’t like it but now it’s growing on me.
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I’m in the UK and don’t know anyone with Frances as a middle name. A lot have Louise, Jane, Marie or Anne, and in the younger age groups Rose, May and Grace.
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At one time I'd have said Frances was old and stodgy, as I think someone else called it. But I've really grown to like lately. I prefer it to the other more ornate versions of the name now. I don't hear it much at all in the US.
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I'm in South Africa. I was at school with two Frances people, neither of whom I knew well, and I remember liking it in a mild kind of way. I've never seen it used as a mn. The usual fem form of Frans (Afrikaans for Francis) is Fransien or Fransina. I once knew an Afrikaans Fransiska.I like Francis very much for a boy, so I would never consider using Frances for a girl.
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I don’t really like it. It is so close to my name (Françoise) but thankfully it doesn’t get mistaken for Frances often. I don’t mind Francis on a boy though. I know someone with the middle name Frances and I live in the UK.
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It’s my sisters middle name is Frances and she was born in the mid 1980s. My mum picked a first name she liked which started with E and our surname began with a G so my dad decided he wanted her initials to be EFG like the alphabet. I live in the uk.I also have a first cousin four times removed called Frances Elizabeth.

This message was edited 1/22/2021, 11:59 AM

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It was one of my grandmother's middle names, but in her case it came from a maiden surname Francis.I am in the UK and know:Frances Elizabeth "Fran"
Frances Rose "Frankie"
Ellen Frances
Lauren FrancesSo about equal number for first name and middle name. It's interesting that none of them go by the name itself.
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I rather like Frances, always have. I don't know if I know anybody with it as a middle name, but I have met a few women named Frances in my life, all of different ages (one was a high school classmate). Frankie is cool, but I don't like Fran / Franny or Fanny.I also like Francine; but as far as variants go, Francesca is my favorite by a wide margin. (And since you were curious about countries of origin, I'm from the U.S.)
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I don't quite like it, but it doesn't really bother me
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Don't really like it
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I have never met anyone with the middle name Frances (that I know of). I'm Canadian, and grew up in the 90s. I only ever encountered boys with the middle name Francis (exact same pronunciation), but even then it was pretty rare. I wonder if Frances as a middle name in the UK was inspired by or affected by Princess Diana's popularity at all? That was her middle name. I've come around to Frances' charms, a bit. It's a clever sort of name, a nice green colour to me, and I love the nickname Frankie. But I think I prefer Françoise or even Francine. Frances has a bit of a downtrodden vibe to it - a sad sort of sensibility.
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Oh that's actually possible, never thought about that! But yes, crazy common among my friends for some odd reason so this might be it. They were born 1994-1996 so that makes sense.
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I always liked it. It's a nice name.
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