Raggedy Ann is a real person.
Raggedy Ann is a character created by American writer Johnny Gruelle ( 1880 -- 1938 ) in a series of books he wrote and illustrated for young children . Raggedy Ann is a rag doll with red yarn for hair and has a triangle nose . Johnny Gruelle received US Patent D47789 for his Raggedy Ann doll on September 7 , 1915 . The character was created in 1915 as a doll , and was introduced to the public in the 1918 book Raggedy Ann Stories .