Vanessa

Vanessa asked me to write a post "Vanessa" as the prize to the Paper Boat Challenge she won. Maybe that's not exactly what you expected but I found it interesting anyway:

The name Vanessa was invented by the writer Jonathan Swift (Gulliver's Travels). The name of a woman he secretely loved was Esther Vanhomrigh. He created "Vanessa" by taking "Van" from her last name and "Esse", the pet form of Esther. It appeared in a poem Swift wrote in 1713 and which was published some years later.

It is supposed that there is a relationship of this invented name to that of Vannozza dei Cattanei, Cesare Borgia's (Italian-Spanish mercenary leader, son of Pope Alexander VI) mother. Here it means beautiful.

Later a genus of butterfly was named "Vanessa".

As a name it became famous with the success of the actress Vanessa Redgrave (films: Julia and others).




Other famous Vanessas I know:

• Vanessa Mae
• Vanessa Carlton
• Vanessa Amorosi (BTW does somebody know it that's her real name? Sounds like a pseudonym.)

Mainly based on the articles at wikipedia.