English · Girl name
Vanessa
“name coined by Jonathan Swift”
About the name Vanessa
Vanessa was invented by the Irish satirist Jonathan Swift for his poem Cadenus and Vanessa. He formed it by combining the first syllable of the surname of his friend Esther Vanhomrigh with the start of her given name, Esther. Cadenus is an anagram of decanus, Latin for dean, referring to Swift himself. The name was later given to a genus of butterflies that includes the red admiral and painted lady, which explains the frequent gloss butterfly. The English painter Vanessa Bell, a member of the Bloomsbury Group, was the sister of Virginia Woolf.
- Meaning
- name coined by Jonathan Swift
- Origin
- English
- Gender
- Girl
- Pronunciation
- vuh-NES-uh(3 syl.)
Middle names for Vanessa
- Vanessa Rose
- Vanessa Jane
- Vanessa Elizabeth
- Vanessa Grace
- Vanessa Marie
Questions about Vanessa
- What does Vanessa mean?
- Vanessa is an English name meaning "name coined by Jonathan Swift".
- How do you pronounce Vanessa?
- Vanessa is pronounced vuh-NES-uh, with emphasis on the second syllable.
- What are variants of Vanessa?
- Variants of Vanessa include Vanesa, Venessa, Vanesha.
More names like this: English baby names