Paco

Paco is a Spanish nickname for Francisco. Another nickname for Francisco is Pancho.

One theory says that the nickname has its origins in Saint Francis of Assisi, who was the father of the Franciscan order. His name was written, in Latin, by the order as Pater Communitatis (Father of the community); hence, "Paco" was obtained by taking the first syllable of each word.. Another possibility is it comes from little children's defective pronunciation of their name as "Paquico".

Sometimes people with the name Francisco are also called Kiko. However, this nickname is more commonly used for Federico, Ricardo, or Enrique.

Paco is also a slang term for cocaine paste.