The word fan refers to someone who has an intense, occasionally overwhelming liking of a sporting club, person, group of persons, work of art, idea, or trend. There is some confusion as to the origin of the word. Paul Dickson, in his New Dickson Baseball Dictionary cites William Henry Nugent's work that traces it to fancy, a 19th century term from England that referred mainly to followers of boxing. It was originally shortened to fance then just to fan. The word emerged as an Americanism around 1889. Many assume that it's a shortened version of the word fanatic, and the word did first become popular in reference to an enthusiastic follower of a baseball team. (Fanatic itself, introduced into English around 1525, means "insane person". It comes from the Modern Latin fanaticus, meaning "insanely but divinely inspired". The word originally pertained to a temple or sacred place Latin ''fanum'', poetic English ''fane''. The modern sense of "extremely zealous" dates from around 1647; the use of fanatic as a noun dates from 1650.)


Supporter is a synonym to "fan" which predates the latter term and as such is still commonly used in British English, especially to denote fans of sports teams. However, the term "fan" has become popular throughout the English-speaking world, including the United Kingdom. The term supporter is also used in a political sense in the United States, to a fan of a President, political party, and a controversial issue.

Although modern fans sometimes display irrational or uncritical admiration, most resent any association with the more extreme term fanatic because of its negative connotations.

In addition to sports fans, other types of fans who have formed clubs, held conventions, and engaged in other forms of "fanac" (fan activity) include the science fiction fan, the Star Trek fan, the anime fan, the comic book fan, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan and the Dark Shadows fan.

In trendy speech, fans may coalesce collectively into a fandom or a "fanbase". They may start a fan club, particularly when they are fans of music artists, actors, or television shows.

When expressing interest in an organized or consistent manner, fans can sometimes effect changes, especially in the media's portrayal of their subject, or in their own subject's behaviour. Some fans enjoy creating fanzines.

When fans write fan mail to the objects of their interest, they expect a positive response; this can create considerable burdens for celebrities, who may react by fostering commercial fan clubs for admirers.

In a few cases, individual fans may become so obsessed with the objects of their infatuation that they become fanboys/fangirls (see below). These fans engage in behavious that are considered extreme or abnormal. This includes idolatry or other forms of worship, such as creating a personal shrine dedicated to the idol at one's home, and can sometimes extend to the point of the fans become stalkers. One example of an abnormally obsessed superfan is Beatle Bob. Over the past twenty years he has attended and danced at thousands of live music shows and concerts all over North America.

An alternative explanation for fandom could be inspired from the latin root of the the word fanatic – fanaticus. This means 'of a temple;' modern day fans could be seen as trying to find alternative forms of religion, indeed 'trekkies' are known to have have special trekkie weddings. Fandom could be seen as having little to do with the area of interest, it being of no intrinsic value, rather being a fan of something could be to fill up the hole left by the diminishing role of religion. Religion plays the part of bringing together people in to a social circle bound by the shared interest of religion. With this fading, the star trek convention could be the new church hall, an excuse for meeting new people because of shared interest.