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Meaning of the nameVanessa

Vanessa is a female name created in English for the poem Cadenus and Vanessa (1726), from syllables of a first name and a surname.

Meaning

The meaning of Vanessa is not known for certain. No reliable source documents it, so we give none; below are the origin of the spelling and the official figures.

People (2022)
397,874
Rank in Brazil
#69
Median age
32 years
2010 Census
418,838
people

Vanessa in the 2022 Census

People with the first name Vanessa, by the decade they were born. In the chart, 70 = the 1970s and 20+ = 2020 to 2022. The largest group was born in the 1980s (166,726 people).

396,406 women 1,468 men

Source: IBGE, 2022 Demographic Census, Nomes no Brasil. The census counts the first name of people alive in 2022; small counts are not published, and the first group covers everyone born before 1940. How to read these data.

Where the name Vanessa is most common

States with the highest share of people named Vanessa in the population, in the 2022 Census.

  1. Rio de Janeiro 0.244%
  2. São Paulo 0.237%
  3. Santa Catarina 0.230%
  4. Paraná 0.229%
  5. Rio Grande do Sul 0.228%
All states
StatePeople% of population
São Paulo105,0940.237%
Rio de Janeiro39,0910.244%
Minas Gerais36,2270.176%
Paraná26,2270.229%
Bahia25,5260.181%
Rio Grande do Sul24,7850.228%
Santa Catarina17,5150.230%
Pernambuco14,7440.163%
Pará13,1570.162%
Goiás12,0740.171%
Ceará10,3230.117%
Maranhão10,2260.151%
Mato Grosso6,7720.185%
Paraíba6,3850.161%
Amazonas6,0110.153%
Espírito Santo5,9570.155%
Distrito Federal5,4890.195%
Alagoas5,4820.175%
Mato Grosso do Sul5,4260.197%
Rio Grande do Norte4,4860.136%
Piauí4,3840.134%
Sergipe3,6680.166%
Rondônia3,1650.200%
Tocantins2,2890.151%
Acre1,3760.166%
Amapá1,1030.150%
Roraima8920.140%

States with fewer than 15 people with the name are not shown: IBGE does not publish those counts.

About the name Vanessa

Wiktionary records Vanessa as a borrowing from English. According to Behind the Name, the name was invented for the poem Cadenus and Vanessa (1726), by rearranging the initial syllables of a first name and a surname; Wiktionary's English entry describes the same formation, with the Dutch preposition van, taken from the surname, and the ending -essa. Because it is a literary creation, the name has no earlier meaning. In the 2022 Census, IBGE recorded 397,874 people named Vanessa, a name almost always female; the largest group was born in the 1980s. Vanesa, with a single S, is the other spelling in the group.

The most common spelling in the group, with SS, as in English.

Other spellings of Vanessa

SpellingPeople (2022)
Vanessa397,874
Vanesa11,169

Sources

  1. Wiktionary: Vanessa · en.wiktionary.org · origin
  2. Wiktionary: Vanessa (English) · en.wiktionary.org · origin
  3. Behind the Name: Vanessa · behindthename.com · origin

Questions about the name Vanessa

What does the name Vanessa mean?

The meaning of Vanessa is not known for certain: no reliable source documents it. So we give no meaning; the page shows the origin of the spelling and the official figures.

How many people are named Vanessa in Brazil?

IBGE's 2022 Census recorded 397,874 people with the first name Vanessa, which ranks it number 69 among the country's names. The largest group was born in the 1980s.

Is Vanessa a boy's or a girl's name?

Vanessa is a female name: in the 2022 Census, 396,406 women and 1,468 men had this name.

What is the origin of the name Vanessa?

Vanessa is a name of English origin. The sources are listed at the end of the page.

In which Brazilian state is Vanessa most common?

Proportionally, in Rio de Janeiro: 0.244% of the state's population is named Vanessa (39,091 people), according to the 2022 Census.

What are the other spellings of Vanessa?

Vanesa. IBGE counts each spelling separately.

More names of English origin

See all

Spotted a mistake? Report a correction for Vanessa with a source. See the methodology.