Fanny (name)

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

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

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 Hallock Carpenter (1854–1939), American lawyer and clubwoman
• 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 (1940–2025), 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 E. Lacy (c. 1786–1869), British writer and activist
• 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