A Little Useless Information

It is a very sad thing that nowadays there is so little useless information. -- Oscar Wilde

FRANCIS • This has been a common name for men since the 1600s. Saint Francis of Assisi (1182-1226) gets most of the credit for the popularization of the name, but he was actually baptized Giovanni. It was his nickname that would stick--Francesco--coined by his father after he returned from a trip to France. In Late Latin, the word franciscus means "Frenchman."

The Word Origin Calendar