Some characteristic forenames: Spanish Jose, Manuel, Juan, Luis, Ana, Pedro, Rolando, Alfredo, Carlos, Gregorio, Arturo, Ramon. Portuguese Joaquim, Duarte, Amadeu, Catarina, Joao.

Spanish and Portuguese: from the personal name Francisco, Latin Franciscus (see Francis ).

Italian: from the personal name Francisco, a variant of Francesco . In North America, the surname Francisco is also an altered form of the latter and a shortened (and altered) form of the patronymics De Francisco , De Francesco , and Di Francesco .

Americanized form of Franciscus , a surname of German origin.

Altered form of Fransoy, itself apparently an altered form of French François ‘Francis’ (see Francois ) or, less likely, of the ethnic name Français ‘Frenchman’.

American shortened and altered form of Croatian Francišković: patronymic from a vernacular form of the Latin personal name Franciscus (see Francis ).

History: Some Americans with the surname Francisco are descendants of Ludwig Christophel Franciscus, an early immigrant (1710) from Germany (see Franciscus ), while another large family of American Franciscos descends from Johannes or John, who immigrated about the same time to NJ (presumably from France) and whose surname was spelled Fransoy and Francisco. Some members of the families shortened their surname to Sisco , Sesco , and Cisco .