A genuinely mixed name — Ó Fionnáin, ‘descendant of the fair one’, and a separate Norman family descended from Panin, both converging on the Fanning name in Limerick and Tipperary.
The Fanning certificate.
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Mixed Origin · Gaelic fionn, ‘fair’, and the Norman name Panin
Fanning is genuinely mixed: the Gaelic Ó Fionnáin, ‘descendant of the fair one’ (fionn, ‘fair’), converged with a Norman family descended from Panin, arriving in the twelfth century. They settled at Fanningstown, formerly Ballyfanning, in County Limerick, with a related branch at Ballingarry in neighbouring Tipperary.
A name that still marks the ground it took root in — Fanningstown, County Limerick, carries the family's name to this day.
Irish form: Ó Fionnáin
