Elle Fanning's Real Name: Mary Elle Fanning

Quick answer: Elle Fanning's full name is Mary Elle Fanning. She was born on April 9, 1998, in Conyers, Georgia, and works under Elle Fanning—using her middle name as the professional given name.

Real name and early life

Golden Globes and credit biographies identify Mary Elle Fanning, born April 9, 1998, in Conyers, Georgia (Golden Globes; IMDb biography). Fanning is the family surname; Mary is the first given name; Elle is the middle name used for billing. She is the younger sister of actress Dakota Fanning. Raised in Georgia and later California as child acting accelerated, she appeared on screen before age three—including doubling younger versions of Dakota’s characters—then built a separate résumé of indie and studio leads rather than remaining a perpetual “little sister” brand.

Career highlights

Notable early turns include I Am Sam (as Dakota’s character younger), Babel, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere. She starred in Super 8 (2011), played Princess Aurora in Maleficent (2014) and its sequel, led Nicolas Winding Refn’s The Neon Demon (2016), and portrayed Catherine the Great in Hulu’s The Great (2020–2023), earning major award attention. Film work also includes Ginger & Rosa, Low Down, 20th Century Women, A Rainy Day in New York, The Beguiled, and Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown. Child-actor continuity into adult auteur roles is a recurring press theme. Festival premieres and awards campaigns kept the Elle billing even when legal paperwork used Mary. Across credits, posters say Elle Fanning; the documented full civil name is Mary Elle Fanning.

Industry profiles emphasize the shift from child performer to prestige-TV lead without a public name change—only the elevation of Elle over Mary in billing.

Name notes for searchers

Elle is not a nickname invented for Hollywood—it is her middle name elevated for professional use, similar to other actors who drop a first given name. Prefer Golden Globes / IMDb bio summaries and major reviews over fan sites. Do not confuse her credits with Dakota Fanning’s when scanning sibling filmographies. Wikipedia is useful only as a pointer after primary citations.