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Girl · English literary coinage
Vanessa
Say it: vuh-NESS-uh
Meaning
Coined by Jonathan Swift for Esther Vanhomrigh, from Van (her surname) plus Esse (pet form of Esther).
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
Swift's poem Cadenus and Vanessa (1726) created it; it became common in the 20th century.
Its wave through time
Fading since the 1980s
In the United States
- 257,522 babies given this name since 1900
- At its height in 1985, about 1 in 227 girls
- 1,370 babies in 2020
Through the ages
Used by
Famous bearers
- Vanessa Bell, painter
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Well-known works of literature
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.