Christian Name Fanny ??

[VICTORIA]

Can anyone tell me if Fanny is a " proper " christian name or is it a nickname for;

Ann, Hannah, or Harriett

Victoria

[bearkat]

I would have thought that Fanny was a shortened form of Frances but we know that anything is possible in our familes.

[VICTORIA]

Never thought of Frances. I suppose it`s possible , but as you say anything is possible.

Victoria

[short_rach]

I've found that Fanny is either a pet name for Frances OR a name in its own right - I have ancestors who've used the name both ways LOL

  

[nashua]

HI,

I have a birth cert for Fanny Walker but all the census & her marriage cert show her name as Frances.

Nashua

[old rowley]

Fanny can be found as a pet name and is a proper name in its own right. Dating back to the 17th century it was developed as a diminutive form of Euphemia, Frances and the Welsh Myfanwy. However during the 19th century the name started to become unpopular. This has been put down to the connection with the brutal murder of an eight year old girl by the name of Fanny Adams and from this you get the every day phrase of Sweet Fanny Adams or sweet F.A. It's usage was further dented when the slang usage of the word Fanny became into use sometime during the twentieth century and depending on which side of the pond you come from it can mean two different things. One form of the pet name Fanny has been connected to the proper name of Ann which then gives you Fanny Ann.

old rowley

[MrsLizzy]

Fanny is a diminutive of Frances.  My great great great grandmother was Fanny or Frances Layton Culling.  Also note some of Jane Austen's characters are called Fanny, for example Fanny Dashwood, the horrible sister in law in Sense and Sensibility, and Fanny Price, the Eternal Drip, in Mansfield Park.

[suey]

Victoria,

My 2 x great grannie was a Francis, she only appears twice with that name, at baptism and marriage, elsewhere she is Fanny!  So look under both names when you are searching 

[VICTORIA]

Thanks a lot to all of you for your help. I will keep information "on record" when I search for my ancestor.

Victoria