View Message

[Opinions] Fanny (as full name)
Hi !!!Fanny is one of my favourite English names since I was a child. It has a simple, aristocratic, sound as I came across it a lot in 1700s-1800s novels. In Italy Fanny is also the name used for Fawkes, the phoenix in Harry Potter. I noticed that is a slang but not everywhere in the English-speaking world and not everyone Say It is actually so linked with it anymore.WDYTO Fanny as full name only?Personal Name Lists https://www.behindthename.com/pnl/125456
Archived Thread - replies disabled
vote up1

Replies

This would not be a good idea. It might be passable as a nickname (in the US at least), but it needs a full name to hold it up.
vote up1
Definitely not usable in the UK where it means vagina! But that's interesting that it's used for Fawkes in the Italian Harry Potter. I'm curious about the other Harry Potter names in Italian. I think he was called Fawkes in English because of Guy Fawkes.
vote up1
I've met a few girls with Fanny as a full name. It's a pretty normal name in Brazil, although it's not particularly common.

This message was edited 11/22/2018, 9:39 AM

vote up1
TerribleForgetting the slang, All I think of is fanny pack, still a very uncool association.I don't like the sound, the look, not do I see anyone connecting it to Fawkes. I'd avoid it all together, even as a nn
vote up1
It's used as a full name here in Sweden. I've never liked it because I think it sounds childish, and now I dislike it for the English meaning.
vote up1
This is one of my nicknames actually. Fanny is used as a full name in France. Not sure it can work elsewhere.
vote up1
There's a young woman named Fanny who works as a check-out clerk in a grocery where I often shop. I assume it's her actual name, as all the other clerks have standard first names on their name badges-Julie, Claudette, Marie-Pier, Lisa...I had an aunt-by marriage named Fanny;I suppose her name was really Frances, but I never asked.
"My aunt Fanny!"-an exclamation in older British novels. :-)

This message was edited 11/22/2018, 7:03 PM

vote up1
When I was about 12 at camp I met a Fanny and no one thought of a butt!The name is sweet.
vote up1
Vagina. Butt.Sorry, that's ALL I can think of, when I hear this name. I am 10.
vote up1
I think if someone actually used the name Fanny here, nobody would say anything except a few might say that it was cute and retro.
Nobody seriously uses that slang anymore, at least not in the US. They only know about it. People might use fanny in place of bottom, only when speaking in a saccharine way to small children, or if they were being facetious.
If not for the slang, I like it alright. It's sort of breathless sounding though, like Faye, and so not a favorite to me.
vote up1
The saccharine way it gets used with kids makes it worse to me, because I have instant recall of it being used that way with me. I'd skip it.
vote up1
It doesn't work in the US, and I'm assuming not in the UK, either. Although the slang term "fanny" doesn't have the same meaning in the two countries, it denotes a nether region in both. I had a friend in middle school named Fanny. She had moved to the US from Uruguay, where I presume Fanny is fine. She found it necessary, after a few years, to start going by her middle name, Renee. I can't really put myself in a time, though I know such a time existed, in which the word "fanny" does not mean "rear end", so that colors my perception of the name to the point that I can't judge it on its own merits.
vote up1
I adamantly agree with everyone else's response. Fanny: Just not a good decision. What about Franny "Fran" instead? I think that sounds better and even cute! (:
vote up1
very bad idea ...Yes, it still does mean "buttocks" in American English and "woman's private parts" in British English, where the term is apparently considered quite vulgar. Fanny for buttocks is old-fashioned, like something your grandmother would say, telling you to sit your fanny down and stop making noise.
It definitely does not have any aristocratic vibes for me or for most people.
I would say avoid it even as a nn.
vote up1
Hi!
Personally I hate it. It's been used for dirty slang before. If it wasn't for that I'd think it were cute. But that's just me.
vote up1
Hard pass.Nope, it's still linked to rude slang term(s). Even if it's a little old fashioned, everyone knows that it is one. But even if it weren't... It would still be a silly-sounding, ugly name. And as a rule I don't like diminutives as first names alone.
vote up1