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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.English, Dutch, German, etc.: from the personal name Frank, in origin an ethnic name for a Frank.
The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Ralph Frankelein, which was dated 1195, in the Pipe Rolls of Yorkshire, during the reign of King Richard 1, known as The Lionheart, 1189 - 1199.he status of the Franklin varied somewhat according to time and place in medieval England; in general, he was a free man and a holder of fairly extensive areas of land, a gentleman ranked above the main body of minor freeholders, but below a knight or a member of the nobility.