Fanny

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Fani in BR Brazil, PY Paraguay, GR Greece and 1 more and Fanni in HU Hungary, FI Finland, DE Germany.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 18 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Fanny is also recorded as 5 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• English given name223K records spelled Fanny31 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Ecuador, Venezuela, Sweden

  Languages: English, German, Swedish

  Also written Fäńńy, ️Fanny, Fåññÿ, Fänny, Faenny

• Finnish given name37K records spelled Fanny3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, Sweden, United States, Estonia

  Languages: Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Fänny

• Indonesian given name25K records spelled Fanny8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, United States, Peru, Malaysia

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay, Malagasy

  Also written 'Fanny, Fänny, Fännÿ, Fanný, Fanny'

• Lao given name2.3K records spelled Fanny19 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Laos, Thailand, Sweden, United States

  Languages: Lao, Thai

  Also written Fanni, ฟานนี, ฟานนี่, ฟานัน, ฟานน์

• Hungarian given name1.3K records spelled Fanny2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Hungary, Hong Kong, United States, Sweden

  Also written Fäńńy

67 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Fanny is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In French, Listed with the Stéphane family; treated here as a feminine variant linked to Stephen/Stephanie, from Greek Stephanos, “crown”.

  as a name·Dictionnaire généalogique des prénoms

• In French, Diminutif de Frances, forme anglaise de Françoise; du latin, « de France ».

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

• In French, Diminutif anglais, souvent de Françoise ou Stéphanie selon les régions.

  as a name·Dictionnaire généalogique des prénoms

• In French, Diminutive of Stéphanie or Françoise in French usage

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

• In German, im 18. Jh. aus dem Englischen über­ nommener weibl. Vom., Koseform von

  as a name·DUDEN Lexikon der Vornamen

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Fanny Burneyb. 1752GBEnglish satirical novelist, diarist, playwright (1752-1840)
• Fanny Mendelssohnb. 1805DEGerman pianist and composer (1805–1847)
• Fanny Elsslerb. 1810ATAustrian ballerina (1810-1884)
• Fanny Crosbyb. 1820US19th century Christian hymnist
• Fanny Bullock Workmanb. 1859USAmerican geographer, cartographer, explorer, travel writer, and mountaineer (1859–1925)
• Fanny Kaplanb. 1890RURussian assassin (1890-1918)
• Fanny Briceb. 1891USAmerican actress, singer and comedian (1891–1951)
• Fanny Blankers-Koenb. 1918NLDutch track and field athlete (1918–2004)
• Fanny Ardantb. 1949FRFrench actress (born 1949)
• Fanny Cottençonb. 1957FRFrench actress and producer

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 1,245 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Fanny?

We estimate roughly 175 thousand people bear Fanny (counting its spellings and scripts) across 11 countries in our records.

In which country does Fanny have the most bearers?

Fanny is most frequently recorded in Argentina, where it is most often spelled fanny.

Where is Fanny most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Fanny is densest in Hungary — about 1 in 396 people — even though Argentina holds more of our records for it.

How common is Fanny compared with other names?

In Argentina, Fanny is the 562nd most common given name of 517,176 given names recorded there.

Is Fanny a male or female name?

Fanny is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Fanny mean?

Recorded meaning: English hypocoristic of Frances/Francisca; also linked to Fanny.