Vanessa

Origin

Coined by Jonathan Swift for a lady friend named Esther ("Essy") Vanhomrigh.

Paul J. DeGategno, R. Jay Stubblefield, Critical Companion to Jonathan Swift (2006), page 42

Full definition of Vanessa

Proper noun

1. .
• 1726 Jonathan Swift, Cadenus and Vanessa:Vanessa be the Name
  By which thou shalt be known to Fame.
  Vanessa, by the Gods enroll'd:
  Her Name on Earth - shall not be told.
• 1978 Maeve Binchy, Victoria Line, Central Line, Arrow 1993, ISBN 0099218216, page 178, 179:A kind of girl that May had before only seen in the pages of fashion magazines, bored, disdainful, elegant, reluctantly admitted her. - - - She was asked to see Vanessa on the way out. She knew that the girl would be called something like Vanessa.