Fanny for a girl?

[LemonZebras]

Hi everyone,

I’m expecting a baby girl. My husband is French and is insistent that he wants to name our daughter after his aunt who raised him - Fanny! It’s a common French name, but the baby will be born and raised in the UK.

Am I unreasonable to say no and to worry that she would be bullied or made fun of? My husband thinks I’m overreacting and that the slang word is barely used nowadays and that not many people know of it.

I will be showing him this thread with the different responses.

Thank you

No
Here it means girls genitals there's simply no arguing. In the US it means bum.

Absolutely NOT

Go for the equivalent french words to get your point across to him. Lecon, Lachatte or Lemoule should do it!

Definitely not. She would be teased and mocked. How about Franny short for Francesca?

There aew so many beautiful French names!!! Just not fanny lol

Once again we really need MNHQ to let the OP pin their update, because no-one bothers with 'see all' even when OP has only made four posts.

DH has backed down. They aren't going to use Fanny.

I knew a guy whose surname was fidget and he swore his granny’s name had been Fanny. Makes me laugh years later.

glad you’ve reached a good solution OP!

If you live in the UK that can not be a realistic option. What type of parent would inflict that on their child? Tell him it would be the equivalent of calling the child the French word for it if you lived in France. Would he realistically think that was acceptable? There are other ways to remember his aunt and this isn't one of them!

My 6 year old is in stitches at "Aunt Fanny" in famous five. Seems it is still a known slang term! I really wouldn't!

100% no.
We had a French assistant in our department at school and she was called "fanny".
Her name was promptly changed to "Annie".
Kids never found out,🤣

Louise is a lovely name. You made the right choice.

No other word but NO.

Noooo! Francesca though is a beautiful nod to Fanny. I knew a girl with Italian parents at school who called her Regina…obviously she was nicknamed Vagina by the boys ☹️

Really pleased he's agreed! Louise is lovely!
was going to say fanny isn't great in the US either:

Françoise is not a bad name, but definitely not Fanny! She would be ridiculed her whole life! It only means one thing in the UK.

Absolument pas! Non Monsieur, non, non, non.

The IRN BRU advert….when they wanted to call the baby Fanny. ‘You cannae call her Fanny!’

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IcKlVojfMD4

Tell him he may as well call his daughter Vagazzle and be done with it

Do it!
It will be character building.

My 50 year old cousin is called richard
His family call him Dick
When he joined the forces he changed his name to Jack

No, no and no again. Or non non non non non!!!!!

I knew a lovely man called Dick (now in his 90s) who had to change his name to Richard in the 1980s - it was a crying shame, honestly. I also had a friend at school called Gaye who had to become Gabby as the teasing became intolerable. There was also a Fanny in my sister’s year at school in the 1970s - we were in a very protected, all girl, rural environment - she still changed it to Frankie at some point though. It’s not fair and it’s not right, but sometimes great names just become unusable, sadly.

I know two men called Willie and it’s fine, both over 50 and only silly people would make fun of it at that age. Also know one Dick, reminds me of a Wodehouse character, he would just shrug off teasing - also nearly 60.

No. Don't let him.

I’m half French, we don’t have any Fanny’s in the family! Is it really that popular? Couple of Stephanie’s, is it short for that?

Lots of beautiful French names, Fanny is not the one!