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[Facts] Re: Franzis male source?
in reply to a message by Kit
It would have the same root as Franz, Francis, Frances, Frank, et cetera, meaning either 'free man' or 'Frenchman.' That said, the only thing I could find quickly is a website saying that someone from the Philippines told the site Franzis is a male name there.. This is just an opinion, but if you don't live in Germany then it's probably not going to be a problem that it's considered a girls' name there.
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Thanks for your reply I'm from Germany and my concern isn't that the name isn't unisex (it's a shortening of Franziska/Franziskus and most people should recognize it as such). My concern is the arbitrary nature of German registration offices, especially when it comes to accepting unisex names since gender-bending names is more or less illegal. I was hoping to find some evidence that the name has been used for boys in the past to avoid any potential issues. Thank you.
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If you want to be sure, call the GfdS:
https://gfds.de/vornamen/gutachten-fuer-das-standesamt/#You could also check the "Internationales Handbuch der Vornamen": https://www.vfst.de/fachliteratur/produkte/internationales-handbuch-vornamen
This is, what German registration offices use.There shouldn't be any problem in accepting a unisex name. This is legal and since 2008 they are accepted without a gender-specific middle name.It's only forbidden to use female name on a boy or vice versa (exception: Maria as middle name for boys).I actually couldn't find any source of Franzis as a name - male or female.
I found this link, but I guess, it won't help you: Franzis has been rejected as a male name in Iceland.
https://www.nordicnames.de/wiki/List_of_rejected_Icelandic_male_namesWhy not name him Francis? Or Ffransis - which is pronounced similar to Franzis.
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I looked in the Historisches Deutsches Vornamenbuch, which I believe is written by the same author as the Internationales Handbuch der Vornamen. It's actually published for use by registration offices too. Franzis was only listed as a female name in there 😅. I'm aware of the change in 2008, but I've heard of some families having issues after that from my understanding it's a guideline and not a law so registration offices can pick and choose if they want to follow it or not but I'm not an expert. My main concern, though, is that the name won't be accepted at all. We do have some backup names, but we really like the German spelling of Franzis. It's however interesting to know that Franzis wasn't accepted in Iceland from what I know they put much research in their decisions. Thank you
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No, 'Internationales Handbuch der Vornamen' is by Otto Nüssler, 'Historisches Deutsches Vornamenbuch' is by Wilfried Seibicke; the authors are different. Nüssler is very sparse on additional information to the names, it is essentially Name, gender, source. The real point of the book is its international coverage.Seibicke gives a lot of information for the names (etymology, historical usages, gender) but concentrates on names used by Germans.
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Oh, my mistake! I misunderstood. I'm sorry. Best of luck!
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