The authors agree that the surname derives from Francia as an original ethnic nickname that later came to function as a medieval personal name, both masculine and feminine. The derived forms Francese or Franzese and Francioso or Franzoso operated in a double sense: as gentilics that indicated that someone was a citizen, inhabitant or native of France, and as an indication of the people or territory in which a person lived or worked, even without being French by origin. This second sense alluded in the Middle Ages mainly to Italian merchants and bankers.

E. De Felice notes that the forms with -z- (Franza, Franzese, Franzoso) are characteristic of the north and the south of Italy, while the form Franci appears documented in Tuscany. F. De Laurentiis specifies that the surname is spread mainly in the north of the country, and mentions Franza as an old and regional variant together with Francia.