Fan Casting Vanessa in Characters by Name but I'm Excruciatingly Thorough

Invented by author Jonathan Swift for his 1726 poem Cadenus and Vanessa. He arrived at it by rearranging the initial syllables of the first name and surname of Esther Vanhomrigh, his close friend. "Esther" likely means “star” in Persian, may also be derived from Ishtar, which also denotes a star. "Vanhomrigh" means "from Hommerich", with Hommerich meaning either "berg" (hill, mound) or "burg" (mound, castle). A possible meaning, then, could be "Star from a bordered hill" or "Star from a headland castle," among others.