Fanny is a feminine given name. Its origins include diminutives of the French name Frances meaning "free one", and of the name "Estefanía", a Spanish version of Stephanie, meaning "crown". The name Fanny (פאני/פני) may also derive from Yiddish, as an anglicized Feigel, Feigele, Feiga or Fejga, meaning "bird".

People

Given name

*Fanny Adams (1859–1867), English murder victim *Fanny Ardant (born 1949), French actress *Fanny Blankers-Koen (1918–2004), Dutch track and field athlete, Olympic and world champion and world record holder *Fanny Brice (1891–1951), stage name for the American comedian, actress and singer Fania Borach *Fanny Brownbill (1890–1948), Australian pioneering politician *Fanny Cano (1944–1983), Mexican actress and producer *Fanny DuBois Chase (1828–1902), American social reformer and author *Fanny Chmelar (born 1985), German alpine skier *Fanny Jackson Coppin (1837–1913), African-American educator and missionary *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 Davenport (1850–1898), Anglo-American stage actress *Fanny Davies (1861–1934), British pianist *Fanny Murdaugh Downing (1831–1894), American author and poet *Fanny Elssler (1810–1884), Austrian ballerina *Fanny Farmer, American candy manufacturer and retailer *Fanny Fischer (born 1986), German sprint canoer *Fanny Furner (1864–1938), Australian activist for the rights of women and children *Fanny Hertz (1830–1908), British educationalist and feminist *Fanny Holland (1847–1931), English singer and comic actress *Fanny Howe (born 1940), American poet, novelist, and short story writer *Fanny Kaplan (1890–1918), Russian would-be assassin of Vladimir Lenin *Fanny Kekelaokalani (1806–1880), member of the royal family of the Kingdom of Hawaii, and mother of a Queen consort *Fanny Lam Christie (born 1952), Hong Kong sculptor *Fanny Law (born 1953), Hong Kong civil servant *Fanny Létourneau (born 1979), Canadian synchronized swimmer *Fanny Lewald (1811–1889), German author and feminist *Fanny Lu (born 1973), Colombian singer-songwriter and actress *Fanny Mendelssohn (1805–1847), German composer and pianist, sister of composer Felix Mendelssohn *Fanny E. Minot (1847–1919), American public worker *Fanny Murray (1729–1778), English courtesan *Fanny Purdy Palmer (1839–1923), American author, lecturer and activist *Fanny Huntington Runnells Poole (1863–1940), American writer, book reviewer *Fanny Ramos (born 1995), French kickboxer *Fanny Rinne (born 1980), German field hockey player *Fanny Rozet (1881–1958), French sculptor *Fanny Searls (1851–1939), American doctor and botanical collector *Fanny Smith (born 1992), Swiss freestyle skier *Fanny Stål (1821–1889), Swedish pianist *Fanny Sunesson (born 1967), Swedish golf caddie *Fanny Vágó (born 1991), Hungarian footballer *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 Allen (1784–1819), first woman from New England to become a Catholic nun *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 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 Imlay (1794–1816), illegitimate daughter of the British writer and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft *Fanny Kemble (1809–1893), English actress, writer and anti-slavery figure *Frances Nelson (1761–1831), wife of Admiral Horatio Nelson *Fanny Stevenson (1840–1914), wife of writer Robert Louis Stevenson *Frances Wimperis (1840–1925), New Zealand artist

Others

*Fanny Altendorfer, Austrian luger who competed in the late 1920s *Fanny Anitùa (1887–1969), Mexican contralto opera singer *Baroness Franziska Fanny von Arnstein (1758–1818), leader of society in Vienna, born Vögele Itzig *Fanny Balbuk (1840–1906), prominent Noongar Whadjuk woman who lived in Perth, Western Australia *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 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 Buitrago (born 1943), Colombian fiction writer and playwright *Fanny Cadeo (born 1970), Italian showgirl, model, television personality and singer *Fanny Cagnard (born 1981), French competitive figure skater *Fanny Calder (1838–1923), promoter of education in domestic subjects in Liverpool *Fanny Carby (1925–2002), British actress *Fanny Carlsen, German screenwriter of the silent era *Fanny Carrió (fl. 1879–1949), Uruguayan liberal feminist *Fanny Cerrito (1817–1909), Italian ballet dancer and choreographer born Francesca Cerrito *Fanny Chamberlain (1825–1905), wife of Joshua Chamberlain *Fanny Churberg (1845–1892), Finnish landscape painter *Fanny Clamagirand (born 1984), French classical violinist *Fanny Colonna (1934–2014), French-Algerian sociologist and anthropologist *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 Cradock (1909–1994), English restaurant critic, television cook and writer *Fanny Currey (1848–1917), Irish horticulturalist and watercolour painter *Fanny Deakin (1883–1968), politician from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England *Fanny Deberghes (born 1994), French swimmer *Fanny Duarte, Dominican Republic female badminton player *Fanny Duberly (1829–1903), English soldier's wife who wrote a journal of her experiences *Fanny Carter Edson (1887–1952), American petroleum geologist *Fanny Fern (1811–1872), pen name of Sara Willis, American newspaper columnist, humorist, novelist, and author of children's stories *Fanny Garrido (1846–1917), Spanish writer *Fanny Chambers Gooch (1842–1913), American author *Fanny Heldy (1888–1973), Belgian operatic soprano born Marguerite Virginie Emma Clémentine Deceuninck *Fanny Bury Palliser (1805–1878), English writer on art, and lace *Fanny Addison Pitt (1847–1937), English actress *Fanny Rubio (born 1949), Spanish academic *Fanny Cochrane Smith (1834–1905), Aboriginal Tasmanian *Princess Fanny von Starhemberg (1875–1943), Austrian politician born Franziska Gräfin von Larisch-Mönnich *Fanny Tarnow (1779–1862), German writer born Franziska Christiane Johanna Friederike Tarnow *Frederick 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), Fanny (''Guilty Gear''), video game character * Fanny (Sesame Street), Fanny (''Sesame Street''), children's television character * Flapper Fanny Says, 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), 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 (play), Fanny'' and the 1932 film adaptation ''Fanny (1932 film), Fanny'' * Francine "Fanny" Fullbright from the Cartoon Network animated series ''Codename: Kids Next Door''

Animals

*Fanny (elephant) (born 1940s), female Asian elephant who spent the majority of her life in a small zoo in Pawtucket, Rhode Island {{given name, cat1=Feminine given names, cat2=French feminine given names