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Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!
You asked for our opinion of the name "Francisco" in 13th century Spain, specifically in al-Andalus, the Islamic part of Iberia. Here's what we've found.
Our research suggests that the Christians living under Islamic rule in Iberia followed the same naming practices as Christians in the Christian kingdoms. We have fairly good resources on naming in the Hispano-Christian kingdoms, so our information is based on that area, but we believe it applies to al-Andalus as well.
It appears that "Francisco" was fairly uncommon in Iberia until rather late in our period. In a fourteenth century chronicle, for example, it occurs only once [1]. The great use of the name in late-period Spain derived from the popularity of the cult of Saint Francis. St. Francis founded his order in the 13th century, and it evidently took some time for his cult to spread to Iberia. We have found one instance of "Francisco" recorded in 1250 in the kingdom of Leon [2], so your name is definitely correct for your period, but it was a rare name.
Since we documented your name in Leon, we recommend that you place your persona there or in adjacent Castille. The major cities of Leon were Leon, Zamora, and Salamanca, and those of Castille were Burgos, Valladolid, Segovia, and Toledo. We have not documented "Francisco" in use in 13th century al-Andalus, but if you want to set your persona there, then you could name yourself for one of its major cities: Sevilla, Cordova, Granada, Cadiz, Almeria, Merida, Murcia, and Valencia. The proper form of your name would be "Francisco de <city>" or "Francisco <patronymic> de <city>". Most Spanish names recorded in your period used patronymics. Examples are Martinez, Perez, Nun~ez, Mun~oz, Fernandez, Rodriguez, Juanez, Gonzalez, Diaz [3].
I hope this letter has been helpful. Pedro de Alcazar contributed to this letter.
For the Academy,
Arval Benicoeur
References
[1] Lomax, D. W. and Oakley, R. W.. The English in Portugal,
1367-1387: extracts from the chronicles of Dom Fernando and Dom Joa~o by Ferna~o Lopes. Warminster: Aris and Phillips, 1988
[2] Talan Gwynek, A Glossary of the Personal Names in Diez Melcon's
'Apellidos Castellano-Leoneses' (SCA: Proceedings of the Known World Heraldic Symposium, 1993).
[3] Pascual Martinez Sopena, editor, Antroponimia y Sociedad (Universidade de
Santiago de Compostela and Universidad de Valladolid, 1995)