# Franz (given name)

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

## Nobility
### 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

## Other people
### 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 Böhm, (born 1999), a BAFTA-winning British-German film director and producer
* 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 Jantscher (born 1969), Austrian politician
* Franz Josef Jung (born 1949), German politician
* Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), Austrian Composer

### 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

### O

* Franz Oppenheim (1852–1929), German chemist and industrialist

### 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'