Baby name
CLASSIC GIRL · ENGLISH
🇦🇹 🇧🇪 🇧🇷 +14 Vanessa
/vuh · NES · uh/
Meaning
“Butterfly”
English origin; coined by the writer Jonathan Swift in his poem Cadenus and Vanessa (1726); also the name of a butterfly genus.
Nicknames
vee · nessa · vane
How it ages.
Literary and timeless; excellent longevity.
The cultural moment.
Popular across English-speaking regions from 1980s onward; enduring appeal.