Franz (given name)

Franz is a German name and cognate of the given name Francis. Notable people named Franz include:

Austria-Hungary

 * Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor (1708–1765)
 * Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor (1768–1835), founder of the Austrian Empire
 * Franz Joseph I (1830–1916), Austrian Emperor
 * Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria, heir to the thrones of Austria-Hungary, whose assassination in 1914 sparked World War I
 * Franz Karl, Archduke of Austria (1802–1878), father of two emperors
 * Franz Salvator, Archduke of Austria (1866–1939), Tuscan branch of the House of Habsburg
 * Franz, Duke of Hohenberg (1927–1977), head of the House of Hohenburg
 * Franz, Prince of Kohary (1760–1826), Imperial Chancellor
 * Franz, Prince of Thun and Hohenstein (1847–1916), Governor of Bohemia
 * Franz, Count of Deym (1838–1903), diplomat
 * Franz, Count of Meran (1839–1891), Austrian Count
 * Franz, Count of Gyulai (1798–1868), Governor of Lombardy-Venetia
 * Franz, Count Széchényi (1754–1820), Hungarian Count
 * Franz Anton von Kolowrat-Liebsteinsky (1778–1861), statesman from Prague
 * Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf (1852–1925), Chief of the General Staff
 * Franz Moritz von Lacy (1725–1801), Field Marshal
 * Count Franz Philipp von Lamberg (1791–1848), soldier and statesman

Germany

 * Franz, Duke of Bavaria (born 1933), head of the House of Wittelsbach
 * Franz, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1750–1806), member of the House of Wettin
 * Prince Franz of Bavaria (1875–1957), member of the House of Wittelsbach
 * Prince Franz-Josef of Bavaria (born 1957), member of the House of Wittelsbach
 * Prince Franz Joseph of Thurn and Taxis (1893–1971), head of the House of Thurn and Taxis
 * Prince Franz Wilhelm of Prussia (born 1943), member of the House of Hohenzollern
 * Prince Franz Joseph of Battenberg (1861–1924), member of the House of Hesse
 * Franz, Count of Erbach-Erbach (1754–1823), nobleman and art collector
 * Franz von Waldeck (1491–1553), Prince-Bishop of Münster

Liechtenstein

 * Franz I, Prince of Liechtenstein (1853–1938), sovereign of Liechtenstein
 * Franz Joseph I, Prince of Liechtenstein (1726–1781), sovereign of Liechtenstein
 * Franz Joseph II, Prince of Liechtenstein (1906–1989), sovereign of Liechtenstein

A

 * Franz Abt (1819–1885), German composer and Kapellmeister
 * Franz Ackermann (born 1963), German painter and installation artist
 * Franz Adam (1815–1886), German painter of military subjects
 * Franz Alt (mathematician) (1910–2011), Austrian-born American mathematician and computer scientist

B

 * Franz Anton Basch, Nazi executed for war crimes
 * Franz Bauer (1748–1840), Austrian microscopist and botanist
 * Franz Bauer (sculptor) (1798–1872), Austrian sculptor
 * Franz Beckenbauer (1945–2024), German football player and manager
 * Franz Behr (1837–1898), German composer
 * Franz Benda (1709–1786), Czech violinist and composer
 * Franz Berwald (1796–1868), Swedish composer
 * Franz Beyer (general) (1892–1968), German General in World War II
 * Franz Beyer (musicologist) (1922–2018), German musicologist
 * Franz Beyer (pilot) (1918–1944), German fighter pilot
 * Franz Binder (1911–1989), Austrian football player and coach
 * Franz Boas (1858–1942), German-American anthropologist considered the "father of American anthropology"
 * Franz Boos (1753–1832), Austrian botanist and explorer during the Enlightenment
 * Franz Bopp (1791–1867), German linguist
 * Franz Brunner (handballer) (1913–1991), Austrian handball player who competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics
 * Franz Burda I (1903–1986), German publisher
 * Franz Büchner (pathologist) (1895–1991), German pathologist
 * Franz Bürkl, Gestapo officer in Nazi-occupied Poland, assassinated in Operation Bürkl

C

 * Franz Calustro, Bolivian football player

D

 * Franz Defregger (1835–1921), Austrian painter
 * Franz Josef Degenhardt (1931–2011), German poet, novelist and singer-songwriter
 * Franz de Liagre Böhl (1882-1976), Austrian-born Dutch assyriologist
 * Franz-Benno Delonge (1957–2007), designer of German-style board games
 * Franz von Dingelstedt (1814–1881), German poet, dramatist, theatre administrator

E

 * Franz Engel (1834–1920), German explorer

F

 * Franz Joseph Feuchtmayer (1660–1718), German artist, patriarch of the Feuchtmayer family
 * Franz Xaver Feuchtmayer the Elder (1698–1763), German Baroque artist and plasterer
 * Franz Xaver Feuchtmayer the Younger (1735–1803), German Baroque artist and plasterer
 * Franz Fuchs (1949–2000), Austrian terrorist

G

 * Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872), Austrian writer and poet

H

 * Franz Halberg (1919–2013), one of the founders of chronobiology
 * Franz Hein (1892–1976), German chemist
 * Franz von Hipper (1863–1932), German World War I admiral, commander of the High Seas Fleet
 * Franz Hofmeister (1850–1922), German protein scientist
 * Franz Hössler (1906–1945), Nazi officer at Auschwitz executed for war crimes
 * Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), Austrian Composer

J

 * Franz Jägerstätter (1907–1943), Austrian conscientious objector during World War II
 * Franz Josef Jung (born 1949), German politician

K

 * Franz Kafka (1883–1924), Bohemian novelist
 * Franz Kindermann, German merchant
 * Franz Klammer (born 1953), champion Austrian alpine ski racer
 * Franz Kleffner (1907–1945), SS officer in World War II
 * Franz Kline (1910–1962), American abstract painter
 * Franz Konrad (SS officer) (1906–1952), German SS officer executed for war crimes
 * Franz König (1905–2004), Austrian Cardinal of the Catholic Church

L

 * Franz Lachner (1803–1890), German composer and conductor
 * Franz Langoth (1877–1953), Austrian nationalist politician
 * Franz Lehár (1870–1948), Austrian composer
 * Franz Lidz (born 1951), American writer and journalist
 * Franz Liszt (1811–1886), Hungarian composer and piano virtuoso

M

 * Franz Machon (1918–1968), German sailor in World War II and sole survivor of U-512
 * Franz Marc (1880–1916), principal painter of the German Expressionist movement
 * Franz Marek (1913–1979), Austrian communist politician
 * Franz Erdmann Mehring (1846–1919), German publicist, politician and historian
 * Franz Muhri (1924–2001), Austrian communist politician
 * Franz Müntefering (born 1940), German politician and industrialist

N

 * Franz Nachbaur (1835–1902), German opera tenor
 * Franz Xaver Nachtmann (1799–1846), German painter

P

 * Franz von Papen (1879–1969), Chancellor of Germany in the Weimar Republic

R

 * Franz Rademacher (1906–1973), Nazi diplomat and author of the Madagascar Plan
 * Franz Reichleitner (1906–1944), Austrian Nazi SS concentration camp commander
 * Franz Rosenzweig (1886–1929), German-Jewish theologian and philosopher

S

 * Franz Schafheitlin (1895–1980), German film actor
 * Franz Schalk (1863–1931), Austrian conductor and founder of the Salzburg Music Festival
 * Franz Schall (1918–1945), German World War II fighter ace
 * Franz Schieß (1921–1943), German World War II fighter ace
 * Franz Scholz (1909–1998), German priest and theologian
 * Franz von Paula Schrank (1747–1835), German botanist and entomologist
 * Franz Schubert (1797–1828), Austrian composer
 * Franz Heinrich Schwechten (1841–1924), German architect
 * Franz Schwede (1888–1960), Nazi Gaulieter of Pomerania
 * Franz Schädle (1906–1945), commander of Adolf Hitler's personal bodyguard
 * Franz Wilhelm Seiwert (1894–1933), German constructivist painter and sculptor
 * Franz Joseph Spiegler (1691–1757), German Baroque painter
 * Franz Stangl (1908-1971), Austrian-born Nazi SS concentration camp commandant
 * Franz Stofel (1915–1945), German Nazi concentration camp commander executed for war crimes
 * Franz Josef Strauss (1915–1988), German politician
 * Franz von Suppé (1819–1895), Austrian composer
 * Franz Xaver Süssmayr (1766–1803), Austrian composer

T

 * Franz Taurinus (1794–1874), German mathematician
 * Franz Thonner (1863–1928), Austrian taxonomist and botanist
 * Franz Treichler, Swiss rock musician and singer of The Young Gods

U

 * Franz Unger (1800–1870), Austrian botanist, paleontologist and plant physiologist

V

 * Franz Vranitzky (born 1937), Austrian politician

W

 * Franz Werfel, (1890–1945), Austrian-Bohemian novelist, playwright and poet

Z

 * Franz Ziereis (1905–1945), German Nazi SS concentration camp commandant

Fictional characters

 * Franz, a German enemy character in the 1989 video game Human Killing Machine
 * Franz, character in Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
 * Franz, guard in Franz Kafka's novel The Trial
 * Hans and Franz, characters of the television show Saturday Night Live
 * Franz Bibfeldt, fictitious theologian and in-joke among American academic theologian
 * Dr. Franz Eldemann, character from House of Dracula
 * Baron Franz d'Épinay, friend of Albert de Morcerf in Alexandre Dumas's novel The Count of Monte Cristo
 * Franz Heinel, character in the Japanese anime series Future GPX Cyber Formula
 * Franz Hopper, character from the French-produced animated series Code Lyoko
 * Franz Kemmerich, character in the war novel All Quiet on the Western Front
 * Franz Liebkind, character in The Producers
 * Franz Oberhauser, James Bond character professionally known as Ernst Stavro Blofeld
 * Franz Sanchez, character in the 1989 James Bond film Licence to Kill'