Fanny
Fanny was given to 18 girls in 2025, #6,396 among girls’ names; 9,654 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,980 Americans named Fanny and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (31% of everyone recorded); the median is 39 years old and half are between 26 and 62.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Fanny by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Fanny mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Fanny is “a diminutive of the female given name Frances, itself also becoming a given name.”
/ˈfæni/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Fanny?
#6,396 among girls’ names, 2025
Fanny fell from #3,228 in 2015 to #6,396 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 28.6 to 11.2 per million.
241 babies in 1916, the peak
Fanny peaked in 1916, when 241 girls were given it, #405 among girls’ names. The 18 births of 2025 are 7% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 18 | #6,396 | 0.01 |
| 2024 | 25 | #5,198 | 0.02 |
| 2023 | 19 | #6,248 | 0.01 |
| 2022 | 27 | #4,946 | 0.02 |
| 2021 | 23 | #5,455 | 0.01 |
| 2020 | 10 | #9,782 | 0.01 |
| 2019 | 19 | #6,250 | 0.01 |
| 2018 | 16 | #7,203 | 0.01 |
| 2017 | 19 | #6,358 | 0.01 |
| 2016 | 29 | #4,768 | 0.02 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 51 | #3,228 | 0.03 |
| 2014 | 31 | #4,574 | 0.02 |
| 2013 | 17 | #7,152 | 0.01 |
| 2012 | 27 | #5,147 | 0.02 |
| 2011 | 30 | #4,720 | 0.02 |
| 2010 | 25 | #5,478 | 0.01 |
| 2009 | 44 | #3,633 | 0.02 |
| 2008 | 50 | #3,342 | 0.03 |
| 2007 | 39 | #4,006 | 0.02 |
| 2006 | 34 | #4,291 | 0.02 |
| 2005 | 28 | #4,744 | 0.02 |
| 2004 | 41 | #3,577 | 0.02 |
| 2003 | 41 | #3,486 | 0.02 |
| 2002 | 37 | #3,612 | 0.02 |
| 2001 | 52 | #2,818 | 0.03 |
| 2000 | 32 | #3,907 | 0.02 |
| 1999 | 42 | #3,117 | 0.02 |
| 1998 | 44 | #2,939 | 0.02 |
| 1997 | 41 | #2,940 | 0.02 |
| 1996 | 39 | #3,045 | 0.02 |
| 1995 | 51 | #2,493 | 0.03 |
| 1994 | 58 | #2,264 | 0.03 |
| 1993 | 77 | #1,853 | 0.04 |
| 1992 | 76 | #1,857 | 0.04 |
| 1991 | 71 | #1,960 | 0.04 |
| 1990 | 68 | #1,993 | 0.04 |
| 1989 | 63 | #2,001 | 0.03 |
| 1988 | 60 | #1,992 | 0.03 |
| 1987 | 48 | #2,243 | 0.03 |
| 1986 | 35 | #2,745 | 0.02 |
| 1985 | 41 | #2,411 | 0.02 |
| 1984 | 41 | #2,350 | 0.02 |
| 1983 | 36 | #2,525 | 0.02 |
| 1982 | 44 | #2,262 | 0.03 |
| 1981 | 42 | #2,349 | 0.03 |
| 1980 | 40 | #2,401 | 0.02 |
| 1979 | 47 | #2,121 | 0.03 |
| 1978 | 33 | #2,583 | 0.02 |
| 1977 | 30 | #2,737 | 0.02 |
| 1976 | 36 | #2,309 | 0.02 |
| 1975 | 41 | #2,106 | 0.03 |
| 1974 | 40 | #2,079 | 0.03 |
| 1973 | 51 | #1,736 | 0.03 |
| 1972 | 33 | #2,286 | 0.02 |
| 1971 | 34 | #2,304 | 0.02 |
| 1970 | 28 | #2,596 | 0.02 |
| 1969 | 21 | #2,939 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 31 | #2,176 | 0.02 |
| 1967 | 15 | #3,380 | 0.01 |
| 1966 | 18 | #2,960 | 0.01 |
| 1965 | 27 | #2,310 | 0.02 |
| 1964 | 30 | #2,210 | 0.02 |
| 1963 | 29 | #2,223 | 0.02 |
| 1962 | 30 | #2,176 | 0.02 |
| 1961 | 27 | #2,314 | 0.01 |
| 1960 | 28 | #2,208 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 29 | #2,119 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 27 | #2,174 | 0.01 |
| 1957 | 32 | #1,935 | 0.02 |
| 1956 | 31 | #1,941 | 0.02 |
| 1955 | 34 | #1,817 | 0.02 |
| 1954 | 32 | #1,849 | 0.02 |
| 1953 | 29 | #1,891 | 0.02 |
| 1952 | 27 | #1,951 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 29 | #1,816 | 0.02 |
| 1950 | 38 | #1,505 | 0.02 |
| 1949 | 39 | #1,473 | 0.02 |
| 1948 | 31 | #1,682 | 0.02 |
| 1947 | 37 | #1,555 | 0.02 |
| 1946 | 26 | #1,785 | 0.02 |
| 1945 | 45 | #1,176 | 0.03 |
| 1944 | 36 | #1,345 | 0.03 |
| 1943 | 50 | #1,144 | 0.04 |
| 1942 | 44 | #1,196 | 0.03 |
| 1941 | 40 | #1,192 | 0.03 |
| 1940 | 36 | #1,225 | 0.03 |
| 1939 | 50 | #1,001 | 0.05 |
| 1938 | 64 | #878 | 0.06 |
| 1937 | 43 | #1,090 | 0.04 |
| 1936 | 49 | #980 | 0.05 |
| 1935 | 88 | #719 | 0.08 |
| 1934 | 91 | #702 | 0.09 |
| 1933 | 80 | #739 | 0.08 |
| 1932 | 93 | #705 | 0.09 |
| 1931 | 109 | #638 | 0.10 |
| 1930 | 124 | #624 | 0.11 |
| 1929 | 139 | #582 | 0.12 |
| 1928 | 149 | #580 | 0.13 |
| 1927 | 166 | #549 | 0.14 |
| 1926 | 163 | #555 | 0.14 |
| 1925 | 188 | #514 | 0.15 |
| 1924 | 167 | #562 | 0.13 |
| 1923 | 177 | #535 | 0.15 |
| 1922 | 194 | #499 | 0.16 |
| 1921 | 170 | #544 | 0.14 |
| 1920 | 222 | #454 | 0.19 |
| 1919 | 190 | #485 | 0.17 |
| 1918 | 202 | #470 | 0.17 |
| 1917 | 209 | #444 | 0.19 |
| 1916 | 241 | #405 | 0.23 |
| 1915 | 211 | #411 | 0.21 |
| 1914 | 167 | #409 | 0.22 |
| 1913 | 124 | #445 | 0.20 |
| 1912 | 116 | #438 | 0.21 |
| 1911 | 100 | #403 | 0.24 |
| 1910 | 102 | #391 | 0.26 |
| 1909 | 79 | #412 | 0.23 |
| 1908 | 86 | #388 | 0.26 |
| 1907 | 103 | #348 | 0.32 |
| 1906 | 71 | #405 | 0.24 |
| 1905 | 71 | #401 | 0.24 |
| 1904 | 65 | #403 | 0.24 |
| 1903 | 79 | #356 | 0.30 |
| 1902 | 68 | #383 | 0.26 |
| 1901 | 60 | #382 | 0.25 |
| 1900 | 86 | #363 | 0.29 |
| 1899 | 73 | #349 | 0.31 |
| 1898 | 78 | #352 | 0.30 |
| 1897 | 78 | #333 | 0.33 |
| 1896 | 108 | #279 | 0.45 |
| 1895 | 94 | #296 | 0.40 |
| 1894 | 90 | #290 | 0.40 |
| 1893 | 79 | #309 | 0.37 |
| 1892 | 92 | #280 | 0.43 |
| 1891 | 84 | #268 | 0.45 |
| 1890 | 84 | #272 | 0.44 |
| 1889 | 87 | #251 | 0.49 |
| 1888 | 75 | #267 | 0.42 |
| 1887 | 83 | #229 | 0.57 |
| 1886 | 81 | #224 | 0.56 |
| 1885 | 85 | #212 | 0.64 |
| 1884 | 66 | #235 | 0.51 |
| 1883 | 68 | #215 | 0.61 |
| 1882 | 49 | #248 | 0.45 |
| 1881 | 55 | #201 | 0.60 |
| 1880 | 67 | #183 | 0.74 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Fanny a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Fanny has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 146 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Fanny: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Fanny, and how old are they?
2,980 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 31% of the 9,654 Americans ever recorded as Fanny. The median Fanny alive today is 39 years old; half are between 26 and 62.
The 2020 Census counted 10,752 people named Fanny (10,682 women and girls, 70 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 3,266 born in the U.S. The Census count is 3.3 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 295 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 451 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 490 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 827 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 600 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 302 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Fanny born?
The states with the most babies named Fanny are New York, California and Texas, with 62% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 1,727 | not ranked | 2.7× |
| California | 629 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Texas | 242 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Pennsylvania | 235 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Kentucky | 187 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| New Jersey | 176 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Ohio | 169 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| North Carolina | 108 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Illinois | 86 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Michigan | 82 | not ranked | 0.3× |
Where Fanny is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Fanny is most over-represented in New York: since 1910 it was given 2.7 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Fanny with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 7 names spelled alike, given to 96,596 babies since 1880, Fanny is the second most given (10.0% of them). In 2025 it was given to 18 of their 75 babies (24%), again the second most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Fanny
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Fanny and names like it
- Compare Fanny and FannieBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sFanny peaked in 1916.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Fanny since 1910.
- The top names of 1916The year the most babies were named Fanny.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Fanny alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with FMost given first.