English pet name for Francis [q.v.], from Latin "a Frenchman"; now a given name in its own right.

Frank was the general term for a member the tribe of the Franks in Germany early in the first millennium A.D. When they migrated into Gaul in the 4^th century, they became the originators of the modern name "France", via the late Latin name for the area Francia, "the land of the Franks".  To some extnt the male name Frank could be derived from the tribal name.