Meaning and history
Vanessa was invented by Jonathan Swift for his 1726 poem Cadenus and Vanessa, formed by rearranging the first syllables of the given name and surname of his close friend Esther Vanhomrigh. The name was later adopted as a genus of butterfly and remained a rare given name until the mid-20th century, when it became fairly popular.
20062006: 4,169 births, rank #79
2007: 4,447 births, rank #71
2008: 4,032 births, rank #78
2009: 3,523 births, rank #91
2010: 2,888 births, rank #107
20112011: 2,620 births, rank #120
2012: 2,554 births, rank #123
2013: 2,095 births, rank #152
2014: 1,927 births, rank #171
2015: 1,729 births, rank #187
20162016: 1,664 births, rank #197
2017: 1,521 births, rank #203
2018: 1,378 births, rank #231
2019: 1,224 births, rank #271
2020: 1,384 births, rank #209
20212021: 1,226 births, rank #253
2022: 1,026 births, rank #311
2023: 1,014 births, rank #304
2024: 938 births, rank #334
20252025: 813 births, rank #377
Vanessa moved from #335 to #377 for girls between 2024 and 2025. Its highest annual birth count came in 1985, with 7,563 births.