Vanessa

Herkunft und Bedeutung von Vanessa

Vanessa is a literary invention: the writer Jonathan Swift coined it in the early eighteenth century for his friend Esther Vanhomrigh, joining part of her surname to the pet form 'Essa.' Later a naturalist gave it to a genus of butterflies, hence the butterfly association. Popular throughout the twentieth century in Europe and the Americas, it endures for its modern, elegant sound. It evokes lightness, grace and freedom, with an international, faintly exotic charm.

Varianten weltweit

Wie Vanessa in anderen Sprachen lautet.

Berühmte Persönlichkeiten

• Vanessa Redgrave— Schauspielerin
• Vanessa Bell— Maler