Frank Napier

(male) Of Germanic origin. The name referred originally to a member of the tribe of the Franks, who are said to have got the name from a characteristic type of spear that they used. When the Franks migrated into Gaul in the 4th century, the country received its modern name of France (Late Latin Francia) and the tribal term Frank came to mean ‘Frenchman’. The name is now also used as a short form of Francis or Franklin.

1. Scottish: occupational name for a producer or seller of table linen or for a naperer, the servant in charge of the linen in use in a great house, Middle English, Old French nap(p)ier, an agent derivative of Old French nappe ‘table cloth’ (Latin mappa). Compare Napper.