Fanny (name)

Fanny
Gender	Feminine
Origin
Meaning	Diminutive of Frances or Stephanie
Other names
Related names	Frances, Fancy, Fannie, Francie, Frankie, Stephanie

Fanny is a feminine given name. It originated as a diminutive of the English given name Frances or the French Françoise, both meaning "free one",^[1] and of the Spanish name "Estefanía" and the French name Stéphanie, both meaning "crown".^[2]

Fanny was a popular independent given name as well as a diminutive of other popular names in the 1700s and 1800s.^[3] Usage of the name has been steadily declining in the Anglosphere since the end of the 19th century.^[4] In British English, fanny has been a vulgar slang term for vagina or vulva since the 1830s. In American English, fanny is a slang term for the buttocks that has been in use since World War I.^[5] In New Zealand in 2023, the Registrar-General declined to accept the name for a baby's birth certificate because it might cause offense.^[6]

The name Fanny or Fannie has remained well-used in other languages and other countries. In the United States, the name Fanny and the spelling variant Fannie are still well-used by the Amish cultural group, who speak Pennsylvania Dutch.^[7] The name also remains in regular use in other countries, including France, Germany, Hungary, Denmark, and Sweden.

Women

Given name

Fanny Adams (1859–1867), English murder victim
Fanny Alving (1874–1955), Swedish poet and novelist
Fanny Ardant (born 1949), French actress
Fanny Arden (1859–1955), New Zealand artist
Fanny Altendorfer, Austrian luger who competed in the late 1920s
Fanny Balbuk (1840–1906), prominent Noongar Whadjuk woman who lived in Perth, Western Australia
Fanny Bastien (born 1961), French actress
Fanny Amelia Bayfield (died 1891), English-born Canadian artist and educator
Fanny de Beauharnais (1737–1813), French lady of letters and salon holder, born Marie-Anne-Françoise Mouchard
Fanny Bendixen (1820–1899), hotelier and saloon keeper during the gold-rush period in British Columbia
Fanny Blood (1758–1785), English illustrator and educator and longtime friend of Mary Wollstonecraft
Fanny Yarborough Bickett (1870–1941), American social worker and political hostess
Fanny Blankers-Koen (1918–2004), Dutch track and field athlete, Olympic and world champion and world record holder
Fanny Blomé (born 1989), Swedish model and beauty pageant titleholder
Fanny Bornedal (born 2000), Danish actress
Fanny Bouvet (born 1994), French diver
Fanny Brennan (1921–2001), French-American surrealist painter
Fanny Britt (born 1977), Canadian playwright and translator living in Quebec
Fanny Brownbill (1890–1948), Australian pioneering politician
Fanny Buitrago (born 1943), Colombian fiction writer and playwright
Fanny Cadeo (born 1970), Italian showgirl, model, television personality and singer
Fanny Calder (1838–1923), promoter of education in domestic subjects in Liverpool
Fanny Cano (1944–1983), Mexican actress and producer
Fanny Carby (1925–2002), British actress
Fanny Carlsen, German screenwriter of the silent era
Fanny Carrió (fl. 1879–1949), Uruguayan liberal feminist
Fanny DuBois Chase (1828–1902), American social reformer and author
Fanny Chmelar (born 1985), German alpine skier
Fanny Chollet (born 1991), Swiss pilot
Fanny Churberg (1845–1892), Finnish landscape painter
Fanny Clamagirand (born 1984), French classical violinist
Fanny Clar (1875–1944), French journalist, writer and socialist
Fanny Colonna (1934–2014), French-Algerian sociologist and anthropologist
Fanny Jackson Coppin (1837–1913), African-American educator and missionary
Fanny Corbaux (1812–1883), British painter and biblical commentator
Fanny Cornforth (1835–1909), model and mistress of painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti, real name thought to be Sarah Cox
Fanny Corri-Paltoni, English operatic soprano active in Europe between 1818 and 1835
Fanny Cory (1877–1972), American artist and illustrator best known for her comic strip Little Miss Muffet
Fanny Cottençon (born 1957), French actress
Fanny Crosby (1820–1915), American mission worker, poet, lyricist, and composer
Fanny Curtis (1908–2003), American sportswoman
Fanny Currey (1848–1917), Irish horticulturalist and watercolour painter
Fanny Davenport (1850–1898), Anglo-American stage actress
Fanny Vining Davenport (1829–1891), English actress
Fanny Davies (1861–1934), British pianist
Fanny Deakin (1883–1968), English politician
Fanny Deberghes (born 1994), French swimmer
Fanny Murdaugh Downing (1831–1894), American author and poet
Fanny Duberly (1829–1903), English soldier's wife who wrote a journal of her experiences
Fanny Eagles (1836–1907), British Anglican deaconess
Fanny Edelman (1911–2011), Argentine politician
Fanny Carter Edson (1887–1952), American petroleum geologist
Fanny Elssler (1810–1884), Austrian ballerina
Fanny Elsta (1899–1978), Norwegian opera singer
Fanny Fields (1880–1961), American singer, dancer and comic entertainer
Fanny Fischer (born 1986), German sprint canoer
Fanny Furner (1864–1938), Australian activist for the rights of women and children
Fanny Garrido (1846–1917), Spanish writer
Fanny Gjörup (1961–2001), Swedish actress
Fanny Chambers Gooch (1842–1913), American author
Fanny Good (1860–1950), New Zealand artist
Fanny Grattan Guinness (1831–1898), British writer, evangelist and trainer of missionaries
Fanny Hausmann (1818–1853), Slovenian writer and poet
Fanny Herrero (born 1974), French television screenwriter
Fanny Hertz (1830–1908), British educationalist and feminist
Fanny Hjelm (1858–1944), Swedish visual artist
Fanny Holland (1847–1931), English singer and comic actress
Fanny Howe (born 1940), American poet, novelist and short story writer
Fanny Ingvoldstad (1857–1935), Norwegian painter
Fanny Jacques-André-Coquin (born 1987), stage name Fanny J, French singer
Fanny Kaplan (1890–1918), Russian attempted assassin of Vladimir Lenin, born Feiga Haimovna Roytblat
Fanny Kekelaokalani (1806–1880), member of the royal family of the Kingdom of Hawaii, and mother of a Queen consort
Fanny Ketter (born 1996), Swedish actress
Fanny Lam Christie (born 1952), Hong Kong sculptor
Fanny Lång (born 1996), Swedish footballer
Fanny Langdon (1864–1899), American zoologist
Fanny Law (born 1953), Hong Kong civil servant
Fanny Létourneau (born 1979), Canadian synchronized swimmer
Fanny Lewald (1811–1889), German author and feminist
Fanny López Jiménez (born 1970), Mexican archaeologist
Fanny Loy (1917-unknown), Argentine actress, dancer and singer
Fanny Mendelssohn (1805–1847), German composer and pianist, sister of composer Felix Mendelssohn
Fanny Mikey (c. 1930–2008), Argentine-born Colombian actress, theatre producer and entrepreneur
Fanny Mills (1860–1899), British-American circus performer
Fanny E. Minot (1847–1919), American public worker
Fanny Moser (baroness) (1848–1925), Swiss noblewoman
Fanny Moser (scientist) (1872–1953), Swiss-German zoologist
Fanny Murray (1729–1778), English courtesan
Fanny Östlund (born 1997), Swedish tennis player
Fanny Bury Palliser (1805–1878), English writer on art and lace
Fanny Purdy Palmer (1839–1923), American author, lecturer and activist
Fanny Peltier (born 1997), French sprinter
Fanny Addison Pitt (1847–1937), English actress
Fanny Runnells Poole (1863–1940), American writer and book reviewer
Fanny Puyesky (1939–2010), Uruguayan lawyer, writer and dramatist known as "the first feminist" of Uruguay
Fanny Ramos (born 1995), French kickboxer
Fanny Raoul (1771–1833), French feminist writer, journalist, philosopher and essayist
Fanny Rinne (born 1980), German field hockey player
Fanny Rosenfeld, also known as Bobbie Rosenfeld (1904–1969), Canadian multi-sport athlete
Fanny Rozet (1881–1958), French sculptor
Fanny Rubio (born 1949), Spanish academic
Fanny Rush, British portrait painter
Fanny Searls (1851–1939), American doctor and botanical collector
Fanny Sidney (born 1987), French actress, director and screenwriter
Fanny Smith (born 1992), Swiss freestyle skier
Fanny Cochrane Smith (1834–1905), Aboriginal Tasmanian considered the last fluent speaker of the Flinders Island lingua franca and thus the Tasmanian languages
Fanny Bixby Spencer (1879–1930), American philanthropist and antiwar writer
Fanny Stål (1821–1889), Swedish pianist
Fanny Stollár (born 1998), Hungarian tennis player
Fanny Sunesson (born 1967), Swedish golf caddie
Fanny Tenret (born 1990), French footballer
Fanny Tercy (1782–1851), French historical novelist
Fanny Vágó (born 1991), Hungarian footballer
Fanny Valette (born 1986), French actress
Fanny Waterman (1920–2020), English musician, founder of the Leeds International Piano Competition
Fanny Westerdahl (1817–1873), Swedish dramatic stage actress

Pet form of Frances

Fanny Alger (1817–1889), American alleged first plural wife of Latter Day Saints founder Joseph Smith
Fanny Allen (1784–1819), first woman from New England to become a Catholic nun
Fanny Blood (1758–1785), English illustrator and educator, and longtime friend of Mary Wollstonecraft
Fanny Brawne (1800–1865), engaged to poet John Keats
Fanny Brough (1852–1914), British stage actress
Frances Burney (1752–1840), English novelist, diarist and playwright
Fanny Chamberlain (1825–1905), American First Lady of Maine
Fanny Crosby (1820–1915), American Methodist rescue mission worker, poet, lyricist and composer
Fanny Durack (1889–1956), Australian swimmer
Fanny Fitzwilliam (1801–1854), English stage actress and theatre manager
Fanny Hamlin (born 1987), also known as Faye (musician), Swedish former singer, songwriter, and model
Fanny Imlay (1794–1816), illegitimate daughter of the British writer and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft
Fanny Kemble (1809–1893), English actress, writer and anti-slavery figure
Fanny Knight (1793–1882), English niece and correspondent of the novelist Jane Austen
Frances Nelson (1761–1831), wife of Admiral Horatio Nelson
Frances Sargent Osgood (1811–1850), American poet
Fanny Parkes (1794–1875), Welsh travel writer
Fanny Rowe (1913–1988), English stage, film and television actress
Fanny Steers (1797–1861), English watercolourist, landscapist, author and composer
Fanny Stevenson (1840–1914), wife of writer Robert Louis Stevenson
Frances Wimperis (1840–1925), New Zealand artist

Pet form of Francesca

Fanny Cerrito (1817–1909), Italian ballet dancer and choreographer

Pet form of Francisca

Fanny Anitùa (1887–1969), Mexican contralto opera singer

Pet form of Françoise

Fanny Dillon (1785–1836), French noblewoman
Fanny Geefs (1807–1883), Belgian painter of Irish descent
Fanny Mosselman (1808–1880), Belgian noble and salonist
Fanny Krumpholtz Pittar (1781–1862), Bohemian harpist and composer

Pet form of Franziska

Fanny von Arnstein (1758–1818), Austrian socialite and salonnière
Fanny Elssler (1810–1884), Austrian ballerina
Fanny Hausmann (1818–1853), Slovenian writer and poet of German origin
Fanny Schreck (1877–1951), German actress
Fanny von Starhemberg (1875–1943), Austrian politician
Fanny Tarnow (1779–1862), German writer born

Pen name

Fanny Cradock, English restaurant critic, television cook and writer Phyllis Pechey (1909–1994)
Fanny Fern, Sara Willis (1811–1872), American newspaper columnist, humorist, novelist and author of children's stories

Stage name

Fanny Brice, American comedian, actress and singer Fania Borach (1891–1951)
Fanny Heldy, Belgian operatic soprano born Marguerite Virginie Emma Clémentine Deceuninck (1888–1973)
Fanny Lu, Colombian singer-songwriter and actress Lucía Martínez Buenaventura (born 1973)
Fanny Lumsden, Australian country music singer and songwriter Edwina Lumsden (born 1986)

Men

Fanny Amun (born 1962), Nigerian former football player and coach
Fanny Walden (1888–1949), English footballer and cricketer

Fictional characters

Fanny Hill, the protagonist of Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, an erotic novel by John Cleland
Fanny Price, heroine of Jane Austen's 1814 novel Mansfield Park
Fanny (Guilty Gear), video game character
Fanny (Sesame Street), children's television character
Flapper Fanny, cartoon character
Lord Fanny, from the DC Comics series The Invisibles
Madame Fanny La Fan, in the BBC sitcom 'Allo 'Allo!
Aunt Fanny, a comic character played by Fran Allison on the radio show Don McNeill's Breakfast Club
Aunt Fanny, in Enid Blyton's The Famous Five novel series
Fanny Ekdahl, in Ingmar Bergman's 1982 film Fanny and Alexander
Fanny, the main character in Marcel Pagnol's 1931 play Fanny and the 1932 film adaptation Fanny
Francine "Fanny" Fulbright (Numbuh 86), from the Cartoon Network animated series Codename: Kids Next Door
Lady Stephanie 'Fanny' Button from the BBC sitcom Ghosts

Animals

Fanny (elephant) (born 1940s), female Asian elephant who spent the majority of her life in a small zoo in Pawtucket, Rhode Island

References

^ Hanks, Patrick; Hardcastle, Kate; Hodges, Flavia (2006). Oxford Dictionary of First Names. Oxford University Press. p. 97. ISBN 0-19-861060-2.
^ https://www.behindthename.com/name/fanny
^ Hanks, Patrick; Hardcastle, Kate; Hodges, Flavia (2006). Oxford Dictionary of First Names. Oxford University Press. p. 97. ISBN 0-19-861060-2.
^ Fanny - Given name information and usage statistics. In: baby-girl-names.org
^ "The Grammarphobia Blog: Jane Austen's "Fanny"". 20 February 2017.
^ Thomas, Grace (2024-01-23). "New Zealand's declined baby names of 2023". Newshub. Archived from the original on January 22, 2024. Retrieved 2024-01-24.
^ https://amishamerica.com/what-are-common-amish-names/

This page or section lists people that share the same given name.
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[1] Hanks, Patrick; Hardcastle, Kate; Hodges, Flavia (2006). Oxford Dictionary of First Names. Oxford University Press. p. 97. ISBN 0-19-861060-2.

[2] ttps://www.behindthename.com/name/fanny

[3] Hanks, Patrick; Hardcastle, Kate; Hodges, Flavia (2006). Oxford Dictionary of First Names. Oxford University Press. p. 97. ISBN 0-19-861060-2.

[4] Fanny - Given name information and usage statistics. In: baby-girl-names.org

[5] "The Grammarphobia Blog: Jane Austen's "Fanny"". 20 February 2017.

[6] Thomas, Grace (2024-01-23). "New Zealand's declined baby names of 2023". Newshub. Archived from the original on January 22, 2024. Retrieved 2024-01-24.

[7] ttps://amishamerica.com/what-are-common-amish-names/

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