Francisco was discovered on Aug. 13, 2001 at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory by John J. Kavalaars, Matthew J. Holman, Dan Milisavljevic, and Tommy Grav.
Francisco is a very small, dark moon which orbits Uranus in the opposite direction from the regular moons and the planet's own rotation (a retrograde orbit). Though it orbits far from the planet (about 4.3 million km), it is the innermost moon of the irregular moons of Uranus.
Originally called S/2001 U3, Francisco was named after a character in William Shakespeare's play, "The Tempest." Francisco is a nobleman who is shipwrecked along with King Alonso (father of Ferdinand) and others.