Many fans are surprised to learn that Dakota and Elle Fanning use their middle names instead of their first names.
The Fanning sisters have been in the acting industry since childhood, with Dakota making a significant TV debut in ER at age five and Elle appearing in I Am Sam as a toddler.
Even though Dakota is now 31 and Elle is 27, some fans are just discovering that Dakota and Elle are not their given first names.
A Twitter user expressed their surprise by sharing an image from the 2026 Golden Globes, stating: “I just found out Dakota Fanning’s first name is Hannah and Elle Fanning’s first name is Mary, and now I don’t know myself.” Quite a revelation indeed.
I just found out Dakota Fanning’s first name is Hannah and Elle Fanning’s first name is Mary, and now I don’t know myself. pic.twitter.com/wrTE8wy3N3
— Dustin Putman (@DustinPutman) January 13, 2026
This information surfaced earlier on a Reddit thread named ‘r/todayilearned’.
One user questioned: “Ok, but if everyone in the family knows the children are just going to use their middle name and ignore the first name, why even give the first name? Just leave it out and make it Middle(first) Last?”
The Fanning sisters have addressed this topic in interviews. Elle explained in Glamour that she ‘just never went by Mary, like ever,’ noting that her mother and sister also use their middle names, so she followed suit.
Elle added: “Since my mom goes by her middle name, we go by our middle names too. […] It’s possibly a Southern thing. I don’t know.”
Elle admitted that the name situation could become ‘awkward’, especially in school settings.
“It was awkward in school when they were calling roll call because they’d go, “Mary? Mary?” Kids would be like, ‘There’s no Mary here’. I’d awkwardly raise my hand, like, ‘Uh, it’s me,'” Elle explained.
Elle confirmed Dakota’s first name is actually ‘Hannah’, and Dakota herself discussed her name in a 2004 interview with People.
At the age of 10, after starring with Denzel Washington in Man on Fire (2004), Dakota explained: “My dad thought of it. My first name is Hannah. So it is Hannah Dakota Fanning. But I have always been called Dakota.”