Michael Frank

(male) English form of a common biblical name (meaning ‘who is like God?’ in Hebrew) borne by one of the archangels, the protector of the ancient Hebrews, who is also regarded as a saint of the Catholic Church. In the Middle Ages, Michael was regarded as captain of the heavenly host (see Revelation 12:7–9), symbol of the Church Militant, and patron of soldiers. He was often depicted bearing a flaming sword. The name is also borne by a Persian prince and ally of Belshazzar mentioned in the Book of Daniel. Since the early 1900s it has been one of the most enduringly popular boys' names in the English-speaking world. See also Michal.

German, Dutch, Scandinavian, Slovenian, Czech, Hungarian, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): ethnic or regional name for someone from Franconia (German Franken), a region of southwestern Germany so called from its early settlement by the Franks, a Germanic people who inhabited the lands around the river Rhine in Roman times. In the 6th–9th centuries, under leaders such as Clovis I (c. 466–511) and Charlemagne (742–814), the Franks established a substantial empire in western Europe, from which the country of France takes its name. The term Frank in eastern Mediterranean countries was used, in various vernacular forms, to denote the Crusaders and their descendants, and the American surname may also be an Americanized form of such a form.