Francine is the French feminine diminutive of Francis — from the Latin Franciscus (Frenchman). A top-300 US baby name from 1940 to 1972. Francine du Plessix Gray (1930-2019) — American writer; National Book Critics Circle Award (2005) for Them: A Memoir of Parents; The Atlantic, The New Yorker, Vogue contributor for over 50 years; one of the most-acclaimed American literary biographers and essayists of her generation; close friend of Sylvia Plath and Mary McCarthy. Francine Prose (born 1947) — American novelist; PEN/Bernard Malamud Award (2012); 24+ books across fiction, nonfiction, and biography; former PEN America President. Francine Pascal (1932-2024) — American novelist; creator of Sweet Valley High series (1983-2003) — over 250 books sold 250+ million copies worldwide; the most-successful young adult book series of the 1980s-90s. Francine Hughes (1947-2017) — American woman whose murder of her abusive husband became The Burning Bed (1984 NBC TV movie) — the highest-rated TV movie that year and a foundational moment for the domestic violence movement.
Featured throughout American literature and TV.
Francine reduces to nine.