Vanessa

Literary invention; also a species of butterfly

Vanessa Origin and Meaning

The name Vanessa is a girl's name of English origin.

Vanessa was invented by writer Jonathan Swift for a lover named Esther Vanhomrigh—he combined the first syllable of her last name with the initial syllable of her first. Swift used it in the poem Cadenus and Vanessa in 1713. A century later, Johan Christian Fabricius used Vanessa as the name of a genus of butterfly.

Vanessa was one of the ultra-feminine three-syllable hits of the eighties, but has proved to have had more staying power than others like Tiffany, Kimberly, and Melissa, due to its classic beauty.

Vanessa Redgrave is the doyenne of the renowned Redgrave family; Vanessa Hudgens, the young actor and singer from High School Musical is a more youthful bearer. On TV there have been Vanessas on The Cosby Show, Gossip Girl and Vampire Diaries.

Vanessa Rank in US Top 1000

# 335 in the US

Vanessa Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

# 353 on Nameberry

Popularity of the name Vanessa

• 335 US 2024
• 353 Nameberry 2025
• 554 England 2023
• 104 Germany 2016
• 42 Mexico 2021
• 50 Finland 2020
• 195 Switzerland 2020
• 125 Poland 2020

20 Names Similar to Vanessa

These 20 names were selected by our users that were looking for other names like Vanessa.

• Natasha
• Melanie
• Alicia
• Alexandria
• Andrea
• Mariah
• Gabrielle
• Leanna
• Carmen
• Natalia
• Sasha
• Angelina
• Stephanie
• Valerie
• Michelle
• Nicole
• Melissa
• Miranda
• Erica
• Danielle

Famous People Named Vanessa

• Vanessa Redgrave English actress
• Vanessa Anne Hudgens American actress
• Vanessa Bell English painter; sister of novelist Virginia Woolf
• Vanessa Lynn Williams American actress and singer, Miss America 1983
• Vanessa Estelle Williams American actress
• Vanessa Kirby English actress
• Vanessa Mae Vanakorn Nicholson, British violinist
• Vanessa Joy Minnillo American TV host and actress
• Vanessa Lee Carlton American singer,songwriter
• Vanessa Zahorian American ballerina
• Vanessa Vadim French,American film producer, daughter of actress Jane Fonda
• Vanessa Alice Bensimon French graffiti artist, known as "Miss Van"
• Vanessa Beecroft Italian performance artist
• Vanessa Haydon Trump daughter,in,law to President Donald Trump
• Vanessa Marie Bryant wife of basketball player Kobe Bryant
• Vanessa Bruno French fashion designer
• Vanessa Fallon Rohanna Australian children's performer
• Vanessa Evigan American actress
• Vanessa Jo Merrell twin sister of Veronica Merrell, YouTuber, fashion designer
• Vanessa Gleason (b. 1979) American model & actress Playboy Playmate of the Month for September 1998
• Vanessa Sue DiBernardo American soccer player
• Vanessa Adriana Nadal lawyer, chemical engineer and professor, wife of Lin,Manuel Miranda.

The name Vanessa in Pop Culture

• Vanessa Weatherford Panessa Baegotti
• Vanessa Abrams character on TV's "Gossip Girl".
• Vanessa Huxtable character on TV's "The Cosby Show".
• Vanessa Bennett character on American soap "All My Children".
• Vanessa Turnbill character in 2000 movie "Cut".
• Vanessa Doofenshmirtz character on animated series "Phineas and Ferb".
• Vanessa Kensington character in the Austin Powers series.
• Vanessa character in movie "Big Daddy".
• Vanessa Loring character in movie "Juno".
• Vanessa Monroe character on TV's "The Vampire Diaries".
• Vanessa Hansen character in movie "City by the Sea".
• Vanessa Moschella character on TV's "Da Vinci's Demons".
• Vanessa character in movie "Corvette Summer".
• Vanessa Ives main character on TV's "Penny Dreadful".
• Vanessa Ursula's human form in Disney's "The Little Mermaid".
• Vanessa Pike The Baby,sitters Club character.
• Vanessa Wade Wilson's girlfriend in the movie "Deadpool".
• Vanessa Morita character on Disney's Backstage.
• Vanessa Wrigley character on TV's "Odd Mom Out".
• Vanessa character in In The Heights.
• Vanessa Santoro character in the "Fablehaven" series by Brandon Mull
• Vanessa Anne “Van” Palmer character in series "Yellowjackets"

International Variations of the name Vanessa

• Vanesa Spanish
• Venessa Spanish