Vanessa
Meaning and origin
Wiktionary describes it as a female given name originating as a coinage. Coined by Jonathan Swift in the 18th century as a pseudonym for a lady friend named Esther Vanhomrigh (or Van Homrigh), an Irish woman of Dutch descent, by taking the Dutch preposition van from her surname and adding -essa (perhaps influenced by the first syllable of Esther).
Source: Wiktionary, English entry for Vanessa (CC BY-SA 4.0). This is the origin of the name in English; families in Sweden may have taken it from another language.
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Vanessa has been fairly steady over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 2009. The figures are for this exact spelling; other spellings of the name are counted on their own.
Years with fewer than two babies (fewer than ten before 2004) show as zero in the chart and as – in the table.
Show the figures
| Year | Girls |
|---|---|
| 1998 | 63 |
| 1999 | 63 |
| 2000 | 79 |
| 2001 | 71 |
| 2002 | 89 |
| 2003 | 67 |
| 2004 | 83 |
| 2005 | 88 |
| 2006 | 97 |
| 2007 | 103 |
| 2008 | 89 |
| 2009 | 116 |
| 2010 | 113 |
| 2011 | 103 |
| 2012 | 84 |
| 2013 | 78 |
| 2014 | 94 |
| 2015 | 87 |
| 2016 | 82 |
| 2017 | 76 |
| 2018 | 81 |
| 2019 | 76 |
| 2020 | 79 |
| 2021 | 81 |
| 2022 | 82 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Women and girls |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 863 |
| 2000 | 949 |
| 2001 | 1,045 |
| 2002 | 1,139 |
| 2003 | 1,215 |
| 2004 | 1,302 |
| 2005 | 1,405 |
| 2006 | 1,528 |
| 2007 | 1,653 |
| 2008 | 1,763 |
| 2009 | 1,899 |
| 2010 | 2,028 |
| 2011 | 2,144 |
| 2012 | 2,252 |
| 2013 | 2,349 |
| 2014 | 2,466 |
| 2015 | 2,587 |
| 2016 | 2,693 |
| 2017 | 2,804 |
| 2018 | 2,927 |
| 2019 | 3,015 |
| 2020 | 3,100 |
Vanessa in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Vanessa.Hi! My name is Vanessa.
- Vanessa har bott i Uppsala i tre år.Vanessa has lived in Uppsala for three years.
- Jag ska fika med Vanessa i eftermiddag.I'm having coffee with Vanessa this afternoon.
- Vanessas mamma är lärare.Vanessa's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Vanessas mamma is Vanessa's mum.
More names
Questions about Vanessa
How do you pronounce Vanessa in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Vanessa in your device's Swedish voice.
What does the name Vanessa mean?
Wiktionary describes it as a female given name originating as a coinage. Coined by Jonathan Swift in the 18th century as a pseudonym for a lady friend named Esther Vanhomrigh (or Van Homrigh), an Irish woman of Dutch descent, by taking the Dutch preposition van from her surname and adding -essa (perhaps influenced by the first syllable of Esther).
How popular is Vanessa in Sweden?
82 babies were named Vanessa in 2022. In 2020, 3,100 people in Sweden had Vanessa as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been fairly steady lately and peaked in 2009 in the years SCB covers (1998–2022).
Popularity figures: Statistics Sweden (SCB), name statistics (BE0001) from the Statistical Database, released as open data under CC0. Each spelling is counted as its own name, as SCB does. SCB's open name statistics end with babies named in 2022 and the population on 31 December 2020; SCB stopped producing name statistics in 2024 and now points to the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) for newer figures.
Origins, IPA and recordings: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), via kaikki.org; recordings from Lingua Libre on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA). Lingolib is not affiliated with SCB or Wiktionary. Sources last checked 7 October 2026.