Fannie Mae

American  

Or Fanny Mae

noun

1. Federal National Mortgage Association.

2. any of the publicly traded securities collateralized by a pool of mortgages backed by the Federal National Mortgage Association.

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Fannie Mae British  

/ ˈfænɪ meɪ /

noun

1. (in the US)an informal name for the Federal National Mortgage Association, a private company that buys and sells mortgage debt

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Etymology

Origin of Fannie Mae

Altered from FNMA, the association's initials

Compare meaning

How does fannie-mae compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• Ginnie Mae vs. Fannie Mae

Example Sentences

A day after their largest one-day increases in more than a decade, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac stock gave back some of those gains.

From Barron's • Apr. 4, 2026

Department of Veterans Affairs and both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two federally sponsored companies, guarantee privately issued mortgages as a way to boost more plentiful and cheaper lending for American homebuyers.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 3, 2026

In other home-buying news, Fannie Mae will soon accept so-called crypto-backed mortgages for the first time.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 26, 2026

The interest rate on both loans would range from comparable to typical Fannie Mae mortgages to 1.5 percentage points higher.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 26, 2026

I fall asleep talking to God: Is my Aunt Fannie Mae there with you, Lord, looking down on me, watching everything that's going on?

From "Betty Before X" by Ilyasah Shabazz and Renée Watson