Given name & surname
Fania
“woman from France; one who is free”
Fania is a variant of Frances. In Latin use, Frances carries the interpretation “woman from France; one who is free.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
Fania is a variant of Frances. In Latin use, Frances carries the interpretation “woman from France; one who is free.”
Explained through its name family
How it developed
In Italian use, Fania is used as a shortened form of Stefania.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1972. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Fania through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 37
- 0 boys · 37 girls
- Most popular year
- 1972
- 6 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for girls is 5 in 2009. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 381 as a first name in 2020; 107 as a surname in 2000.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Fania’s family of names
Fania is a short form of Stefania. Fania has a related form in Frances.
The ring: nicknames and forms.
Nicknames & forms 2
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
People named Fania
- Fania MarinoffAmerican actress (1890-1971)
- Fania Oz-SalzbergerIsraeli historianborn 1960
- Fania FénelonFrench singer, composer and pianist (1919–1983)1908–1983
- Fania LewandoCookbook author1888–1941
- Fania MindellAmerican feminist, activist, and theater artist1894–1969
- Fania NoëlAfrofem activist, sociologist, writerborn 1987
- Fania BergsteinIsraeli poet (1908–1950)
- Fania BrancovskajaLithuanian teacher and Jewish resistance member1922–2024
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Fania, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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