Head to head · Girls' names
Laura vs Vanessa
#379 vs #377 in 2025
Vanessa is a whisker ahead (#377 vs #379 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Vanessa is stepping back from its peak, Laura is holding its place on the charts. On momentum, Laura has the edge.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Laura leads 3 measures of 6; Vanessa leads 2.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Laura #21, Vanessa — — Laura higher
- 1890s: Laura #34, Vanessa — — Laura higher
- 1900s: Laura #48, Vanessa #1723 — Laura higher
- 1910s: Laura #61, Vanessa #3493 — Laura higher
- 1920s: Laura #76, Vanessa #4278 — Laura higher
- 1930s: Laura #98, Vanessa #2578 — Laura higher
- 1940s: Laura #94, Vanessa #2047 — Laura higher
- 1950s: Laura #44, Vanessa #293 — Laura higher
- 1960s: Laura #17, Vanessa #175 — Laura higher
- 1970s: Laura #19, Vanessa #112 — Laura higher
- 1980s: Laura #21, Vanessa #49 — Laura higher
- 1990s: Laura #53, Vanessa #57 — Laura higher
- 2000s: Laura #148, Vanessa #74 — Vanessa higher
- 2010s: Laura #313, Vanessa #176 — Vanessa higher
- 2020s: Laura #368, Vanessa #298 — Vanessa higher
Laura stood higher in 12 of 15 decades; Vanessa has held the lead since the 2000s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Laura | Vanessa |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #21 | — |
| 1890s | #34 | — |
| 1900s | #48 | #1723 |
| 1910s | #61 | #3493 |
| 1920s | #76 | #4278 |
| 1930s | #98 | #2578 |
| 1940s | #94 | #2047 |
| 1950s | #44 | #293 |
| 1960s | #17 | #175 |
| 1970s | #19 | #112 |
| 1980s | #21 | #49 |
| 1990s | #53 | #57 |
| 2000s | #148 | #74 |
| 2010s | #313 | #176 |
| 2020s | #368 | #298 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Laura
laurel
From the Latin laurus, the evergreen tree whose leaves crowned victors and poets. The reading is settled and the name is the plain Latin word with nothing added.
laurus → Laura
How it traveled
That continuity is the unusual thing about it. Most names of its age have gone out of use for a century or two and come back changed, or have been reshaped by one language and borrowed back by another.
Vanessa
Not established
The name was invented in the early eighteenth century by a writer for a particular woman, built out of her own two names, and it is one of the very few English names whose moment of creation is documented. It then did what invented names occasionally do: it escaped, became ordinary, and by the twentieth century was being given by families who had never heard of either the writer or the woman.
a writer coins the name from a woman's two names → it appears in a poem published in the 1720s → the name escapes into ordinary use → a painter carries it in the twentieth century → an American peak at the end of the 1980s
How it traveled
Bell was Virginia Woolf's sister and by most accounts the steadier of the two. She ran an unconventional household with remarkable calm — her husband, her lover, her lover's lover and her children all under one roof — and painted throughout it.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Laura
LOR-uh
Two syllables with the weight at the front. Italian and Spanish give the first vowel more length, LAH-oo-rah, and Polish and German say it closer to the Italian.
- Laurie — The everyday form; a standing name of its own for women and men both.
- Lolly — An older affectionate form, used inside families.
- Lala — A reduplicated childhood form; used widely and rarely written.
Vanessa
vuh-NESS-uh
Three syllables with the weight in the middle. It is said the same way in English, Italian, Spanish and French, which very few names manage.
- Nessa — The back of the name, a complete name in Ireland in its own right.
- Van — The front alone, unisex and rather modern.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Laura if you want…
- a name with fewer syllablesLaura is 2 syllables to Vanessa's 3
- a long American recordLaura was already in use when US records began in 1880
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 12% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 77% for Vanessa
Choose Vanessa if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsVanessa is stepping back from its peak
- a name with more sound in itVanessa runs 3 syllables, Laura 2
- a newer arrivalVanessa entered the US charts in 1900
- a name that feels very nowVanessa is stepping back from its peak
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Laura
Strengths
- It is spelled identically in at least six European languages.
- The meaning is settled, pleasant and easy to explain to a child.
- Five letters, two syllables, and no ambiguity in the spelling.
To consider
- It is very familiar, so a child may share it with others.
- The first vowel differs noticeably between English and the Romance languages.
- The spelling is recorded for a small number of boys, though it reads overwhelmingly as a girl's name.
Vanessa
Strengths
- It works without alteration across most of Europe.
- Nessa and Van are both available and pull in different directions.
- It is one of the few English names with a documented inventor.
To consider
- It is closely dated to the 1980s in America and reads as a mother's name.
- There is no meaning, because the name was assembled rather than descended.
- Vanesa with one s is standard in Spanish and will be substituted.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Laura
12%chance Laura feels dated by 2040
Laura has held the top-100 across 12 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
Vanessa
77%chance Vanessa feels dated by 2040
Vanessa is coming down from a big peak (#41 in 1988). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Laura and Vanessa in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Laura and Vanessa?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Laura and Vanessa — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Laura or Vanessa — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Laura or Vanessa?
- Vanessa, in 2025: Vanessa ranked #377 with 813 babies; Laura ranked #379 with 805 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Laura or Vanessa?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Laura moved down 23 places; Vanessa moved down 168 places.
- Which is the older name, Laura or Vanessa?
- Laura was already in use when US records began in 1880; Vanessa entered the US charts in 1900. On the American record, Laura is the older name.
- How many people are named Laura and Vanessa?
- About 617,000 people named Laura are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 252,000 people named Vanessa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Lauras or Vanessas in the classroom?
- Laura will almost certainly be the only one in school. Vanessa will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Laura, Vanessa and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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