People are left stunned after learning sisters Elle and Dakota Fanning's real names

Dakota and Elle Fanning both use their middle names opposed to their first names and apparently some fans now 'don't know' themselves.

The actor sister duo have been acting since they were children with Dakota Fanning's first major TV appearance on hit drama series ER at the age of five, and Elle's first screen job in I Am Sam aged around two or three.

However, despite how long the pair have both been in the public eye - Dakota now 31 years old and Elle 27 - some fans have only just found out Dakota and Elle aren't actually their actual first names.

Sharing an image of the pair from the 2026 Golden Globes, which took place on Sunday (January 11), a Twitter user captioned the post: "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." Shocking stuff.

Elle and Dakota Fanning's first names are what now? (Jean Catuffe / Contributor / Getty)

The revelation previously reared its head on Reddit on a thread titled 'r/todayilearned'.

A user commented on the post: "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 question was answered by Elle and Dakota themselves in prior interviews, Elle explaining in an interview with Glamour she 'just never went by Mary, like ever,' and her mom goes by her middle name and her sister does too, so she naturally just followed suit.

She 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."

However, Elle admitted the name switches sometimes got a bit confusing and even 'awkward'.

The name switches could get a bit 'awkward' in school (Eric Charbonneau / Contributor)

"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 said.

She also confirmed Dakota's first name is actually 'Hannah' and Dakota also spoke out about her first name in an interview with People in 2004.

Aged 10, having just starred alongside none other than Denzel Washington in Man on Fire (2004), Dakota was asked where her name comes from.

She told the outlet: "My dad thought of it. My first name is Hannah. So it is Hannah Dakota Fanning. But I have always been called Dakota."