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Original poster

To think this attitude to names like Fanny in old books is silly?

210 replies

Carla786 · 28/04/2026 12:49

I've seen posts here agreeing with the new Enid Blyton editions that changed Fanny to Franny and Dick to Rick, some even saying she must have meant it as a double entendre.

 Just seems silly & narrow-minded to me. Not everything was always meant as a double entendre. Should Fanny Price in Mansfield Park also be changed? Or other characters called names that mean different things now?

I remember my mother passed down a minor Blyton book with a kitten called Bimbo in. Was that Blyton being rude, or just due to the fact that Bimbo was slang for 'kid' then?

OP posts:
Original poster
Carla786 · 29/04/2026 01:44

ChimpanzeeThatMonkeyNews · 28/04/2026 22:20

He was ‘caught’ by his old headmaster.

He recognised Dick’s handwriting.

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🤣

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Original poster
Carla786 · 29/04/2026 01:44

KitchenColourandstyle · 28/04/2026 22:14

Its thought the use of fanny for vaginas could be connected to the novel Fanny Hill, an 18th century smutty erotic book about the life of a prostitute.

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Maybe? The Grammarphobia article I linked implied it became common post-1830s or later, so some time after Fanny Hill, which was written in 1748. Surely didn't help though, anyway.

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RafaFan · 28/04/2026 22:29

Pemba · 28/04/2026 13:06

I think 'bimbo' must have not had the same connotations as it has now. I remember my friend having a pet hamster named Bimbo, that would be been late 70s.

I also suppose that Dick and Fanny must have been much more familiar as everyday names mid 20th century. Look at Dick Van Duke, tv star of the sixties, and Fanny Cradock, popular TV cook of the sixties (UK). No one was sniggering about their names at the time.

But the publishers of Enid Blyton know that if they left the characters' names as Dick and Fanny nowadays this would lead to more sniggering going on from adults providing the books to the children, general awkwardness etc, easier to just switch a few letters round. The names were changed back in the 80s/90s I think.

Bimbo brand bread is still a thing in Canada!

ChimpanzeeThatMonkeyNews · 28/04/2026 22:20

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 28/04/2026 13:46

Dick Turpin - if anyone tried to change his name I expect he’d come back and haunt them.

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He was ‘caught’ by his old headmaster.

He recognised Dick’s handwriting.

greyweek · 28/04/2026 22:15

EverydayRoutine · 28/04/2026 22:04

The picture book would have been about an ass, surely? Not an arse!

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Ha, yes. I’ve redacted unintentionally as to me that word sounds ruder.

KitchenColourandstyle · 28/04/2026 22:14

greyweek · 28/04/2026 21:43

I’ve always wondered that. Also - Willy?

I speak two other languages fluently and no proper names are used as euphemisms for private parts in either.

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Its thought the use of fanny for vaginas could be connected to the novel Fanny Hill, an 18th century smutty erotic book about the life of a prostitute.

EverydayRoutine · 28/04/2026 22:04

greyweek · 28/04/2026 21:52

And I feel uncomfortable every time my child names a blue tit or talks about a cock(erel). There was a picture book about an arse (as in donkey) in the library we came across… How are these words so normal but also vulgar slang.
Anyone else know about similar examples in other languages?? (Sorry, for derailing the thread..)

Edited

The picture book would have been about an ass, surely? Not an arse!

SorcererGaheris · 28/04/2026 21:57

Carla786 · 28/04/2026 13:05

Yeah I mean if you take it too far prominent women of their time like Fanny Burney or Fanny Fern (OK not so famous now but still interesting) are reduced to jokes.

Does this happen with men called Dick? Maybe yes?

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@Carla786

Dick Van Dyke is sometimes referred to as Penis Van Lesbian. (I don't think it's meant with any malice, so although I love DVD, so I don't tend to get worked up about it.)

pinkstripeycat · 28/04/2026 21:56

My FIL was called Dick. Only my kids laughed. My childhood cat was called Bimbo named after Jim Reeves' "Bimbo" (1953) a cheerful, upbeat novelty song about a playful, charming little boy.

greyweek · 28/04/2026 21:52

And I feel uncomfortable every time my child names a blue tit or talks about a cock(erel). There was a picture book about an arse (as in donkey) in the library we came across… How are these words so normal but also vulgar slang.
Anyone else know about similar examples in other languages?? (Sorry, for derailing the thread..)

greyweek · 28/04/2026 21:43

abracadabra1980 · 28/04/2026 13:49

I'm more intrigued as to how the name Dick, ever became associated with a penis and the same re Fanny and a vagina-what possible connotations does each name have with the respective bit of anatomy? Adored Enid Blyton.

I’ve always wondered that. Also - Willy?

I speak two other languages fluently and no proper names are used as euphemisms for private parts in either.

Redhairandhottubs · 28/04/2026 21:43

Carla786 · 28/04/2026 15:07

Oh, I'd like to see that pic!

A few other famous Fannies from Wiki (I'm on a roll!) :
Fanny Kemble - actress
Fanny Elssler - ballerina
Fanny Trollope - writer
Fanny Blankers-Koen - athlete
Fanny Bullock Workman - mountain climber
Fanny Brice - entertainer
Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel - composer
Fanny Brawne - John Keats' muse
Fanny Cochrane Smith - last fluent speaker of Aboriginal Tasmanian

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Don’t forget Fanny Chmelar, the German Skier…

EBearhug · 28/04/2026 21:32

I wouldn't change the names, but equally, if I had grown up with Rick and Franny, I doubt I'd think anything of it.

I agree about currency. It's less weird to read of someone receiving a ten shilling postal order than a 50p one, especially as 50p barely gets you anything these days.

Thechaseison71 · 28/04/2026 21:31

Carla786 · 28/04/2026 16:38

I suppose what I'm wondering is when and why it became taboo? I suppose post-60s changes where sexual double entendres became more prominent?

Well Enid Blyton died in 1968 so probably wasn't thinking of double entendres

TerracottaBowl · 28/04/2026 21:30

RedBullBlood · 28/04/2026 21:12

Fatty’s real name was Frederick Algernon Trotter, so the nickname came from his initials. Can’t remember if he was overweight though.

Yes, but also big and burly -- which of course he needed to be as the master of disguise of the Five Find-Outers, who needed to be able to dress up as an adult.

Thetreeisdownnow · 28/04/2026 21:18

It really annoys me in the most recent faraway tree editions that they’ve changed Bessie to Beth and Jo to Joe. What was the need of that?
fair enough to change Fanny to Franny and Dick to Rick if it upsets some peoples sensibilities but why go messing with the other names.

SerafinasGoose · 28/04/2026 21:14

Carla786 · 28/04/2026 21:08

Dick really was a common name. So was Fanny, especially for older people (the character is the adult Aunt Fanny). As pps have pointed out, you had people like the TV chef Fanny Craddock in the 60s.

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Don't even get me started on 'Dirty Dick' or I really will end up in the naughty girls' corner.

SerafinasGoose · 28/04/2026 21:12

TerracottaBowl · 28/04/2026 20:55

No, Fanny and Dick are in the same book by Enid Blyton, but Titty, short for Letitia, is an Arthur Ransome character.

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In the book we're never specifically told her whole name. I had a lovely book about the lake district locations of the Ransome books when I was a kid, which somwhere recounted the story that Titty's real-life counterpart, a girl called Mavis, was nicknamed that after the kids' story Titty Mouse and Tatty Mouse.

I believe they called her 'Kitty' in the more up-to-date adaptation (hard eyeroll).

RedBullBlood · 28/04/2026 21:12

Fatty’s real name was Frederick Algernon Trotter, so the nickname came from his initials. Can’t remember if he was overweight though.

Original poster
Carla786 · 28/04/2026 21:08

Iatethelastbiscuit · 28/04/2026 20:52

I’m not that familiar with Enid Blyton. Are these Fanny, Dick and Titty people all characters in the same book?! That can’t just be coincidence! She must have named them that deliberately to give the parents a laugh or something…or were those names just generally that common back then? What an unfortunate choice 😬

Dick really was a common name. So was Fanny, especially for older people (the character is the adult Aunt Fanny). As pps have pointed out, you had people like the TV chef Fanny Craddock in the 60s.

OP posts:
Original poster
Carla786 · 28/04/2026 21:06

TerracottaBowl · 28/04/2026 20:55

No, Fanny and Dick are in the same book by Enid Blyton, but Titty, short for Letitia, is an Arthur Ransome character.

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As we said upthread, Titty was an Arthur Ransome character inspired by a child of a couple he was friends with who called herself Titty after the fairy tale Titty Mouse and Tatty Mouse

I doubt her parents saw it as inappropriate or they would have stopped her using it.

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TerracottaBowl · 28/04/2026 20:55

Iatethelastbiscuit · 28/04/2026 20:52

I’m not that familiar with Enid Blyton. Are these Fanny, Dick and Titty people all characters in the same book?! That can’t just be coincidence! She must have named them that deliberately to give the parents a laugh or something…or were those names just generally that common back then? What an unfortunate choice 😬

No, Fanny and Dick are in the same book by Enid Blyton, but Titty, short for Letitia, is an Arthur Ransome character.

Iatethelastbiscuit · 28/04/2026 20:52

I’m not that familiar with Enid Blyton. Are these Fanny, Dick and Titty people all characters in the same book?! That can’t just be coincidence! She must have named them that deliberately to give the parents a laugh or something…or were those names just generally that common back then? What an unfortunate choice 😬

Iatethelastbiscuit · 28/04/2026 20:45

Carla786 · 28/04/2026 14:06

I'm not sure that many 9yos now would be as aware of the slang anyway. I'm older Gen Z & maybe I'm naive but I don't think people my age use the slang that much. When I was 9 I'd only come across 'fanny' in that sense once I think (and that was in Roald Dahl's Matilda, where he oddly uses it in the US sense - Mr Wormwood says something about how Matilda shouldn't 'sit on her fanny reading story books' , unless I've misremembered!)

Anyway I don't think it's ideal to be laughing at the idea of it being someone's name when it was fairly common in living memory and still is in some countries.

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Of course kids these days still know what Fanny and dick mean! I taught my primary aged dd to use the word vagina but she calls it her fanny anyway cos she picked it up at school! And kids are always going to laugh if they come across someone with a funny name, it wouldn’t be something I’d actively encourage but it’s going to happen, it’s part of being a kid

PomplaMouse · 28/04/2026 20:00

I think its worth remembering that the books weren't revised specifically to change the character names, but to modernize them generally (e.g. "awful swotter" to "bookworm"), for the sake of attempting to boost sales rather than being censorship-driven.

It didn't go very well and Hachette (the major Blyton publisher) changed back to the original language around a decade ago.