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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 phrase franking is derived from the Latin word francus meaning free. Another use of that term is speaking frankly, i.e. freely. Because Benjamin Franklin was an early United States Postmaster General, satirist Richard Armour referred to free congressional mailings as the Franklin privilege.