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 [ 3 syll. va-nes-sa, van-e-ssa ] The girl name Vanessa is pronounced VahNEHSah KEY. Vanessa's origin is Latin, and its use, English and German. The name was first invented by the Irish poet Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) as a nickname for his lover Esther Vanhomrigh, derived from 'Van' from the Dutch surname Vanhomrigh and the feminine suffix '-essa', probably inspired by the first name Esther. She was fictionalized in Swift's poem Cadenus and Vanessa (1713), with Cadenus referring to himself, and the first name subsequently grew in popularity. The name Vanessa is widely used; it has 50 forms that are used in both English and foreign languages. English forms of the name include Nessi, Nessy, Vana, Vanassa, Vaneeta, Vanesha, Vaneshia, Vanesia, Vanesse, Vanessia, Vanetta, Vania (used in Italian and Slavic too), Vaniece, Vaniessa, Vanisa, Vanissa, Vanneza, Vanni, Vannie, Varnessa, Venesha, Venesse, Venessia, Veniesa, Venisha, Venishia, Venna, Vennisa, Vinesha, and Vinisha. Other English forms include the short forms Nessa, Nessie, Van (used in Greek too), and Vanny, the pet forms Nesa, Ness, Vanna (used in Italian too), Vannah, Vanya, and Vennie, and the spelling variants Vaneza, Vannesa, Vannessa, Venesa, Venessa, Vennesa, Vennessa, and Vinessa. Wanessa (Portuguese) is a form of Vanessa that is used in foreign languages. The spelling variant Vanesa (Spanish) is another foreign form. Vanessa is a popular baby girl name. The name's popularity increased from the 1940s up to the 1980s; before that, it was of only very light use. At the modest height of its usage in 1985, 0.410% of baby girls were named Vanessa. It had a ranking of #42 then. The baby name has seen a decline in popularity since then. In 2008, it ranked at #76 with a usage of 0.194%, but it was nevertheless the most regularly used within all girl names in its family. Baby names that sound like Vanessa include Vanassa (English), Vanesa (Spanish), Vanesha (English), Vaneshia (English), Vanesia (English), Vaneza (English), Vaniessa (English), Vanisa (English), Vanissa (English), Vannesa (English), Vannessa (English), Vanneza (English), Venesa (English), Venesha (English), Venessa (English), Venetia (English), Veniesa (English), Venisha (English), Vennesa (English), and Vennessa (English). Details of famous persons named Vanessa: KEY: Pronunciation for Vanessa: V as in "vee (V.IY)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)" ; N as in "knee (N.IY)" ; EH as in "Ed (EH.D)" ; S as in "sea (S.IY)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)"   |
