[1] The names of the family derive from the Fly River and from the Proto-Anim word *anim 'people'.

[1] The 17 Anim languages belong to the following four subfamilies:[2] The moribund Abom language, previously considered a member of the Tirio family, is of uncertain classification, possibly Trans–New Guinea, but does not appear to be Anim.

The extinct Karami language, attested only in a short word list and previously assigned to the Inland Gulf family, defies classification (Usher and Suter 2015).

Anim languages and respective demographic information listed by Evans (2018) are provided below.

They reflect a gender ablaut of msg *e, fsg *u, nsg *[a/o], and pl *i, as in *anem 'man', *anum 'woman', *anim 'people', or *we 'father', *wu 'mother', *wi 'parents'.