Origins of the Fanning Family
According to Walter Frederic Brook's History of the Fanning Family, published in 1905, the Fanning family, antecedents and descendents of Edmund Fanning, originated in Ireland, and the Fanning records there date to 1641. In 1651 Frances Fanning was mayor of Limerick.
One hundred years after the Normans invaded England, they moved into Ireland. The Normans intermarried with the Irish, and the Norman "race" disappeared as a race.
"The Fanning family appears to be or Norman origin and to have come to Ireland with the first settlers of that race." (around A.D. 1169).
The first form of the name on record appears to be "Fanyn." In about the year 1355, the name occurs as "Fanyng" in the south of Ireland in the counties of Limerick and Tipperary and were influetial citizens of Limerick city and Fanningstown in the Barony of Pobble-Brian, County of Limerick.
In England this name may have been spelled "Fannon or Fanun or Fanen." The French version is spelled "Fanon." The name Fanning has also been spelled "O'Fannin'", Fannin, and Fannen" in American records.

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