Anessa
Feminine · “grace”
Anessa joins Ana to an -essa ending, and it stands close to Vanessa — a name a satirist invented for a friend in 1713.
How old is the name Anessa?
Anessa first appears in US birth records in 1967 — 58 years ago. The typical Anessa alive today was born around 2004, making them about 21 years old. About 2,800 people named Anessa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Anessa most popular?
Anessa peaked in 2002, reaching #1564 nationally. Today it ranks #4172, 2,608 places below that high. See the whole 2002 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Anessa
Ours, offered as ours. Vanessa is one of the few names in English with a dated author: Swift made it for Esther Vanhomrigh by taking Van from her surname and Essa from Esther, and used it in a poem published in 1726. It then became a real name, and a genus of butterflies was named after it. Anessa sits beside it with Ana at the front instead. One half is three thousand years old and the other is three hundred.
Meaningscholars disagree
grace
Ana is documented: from Hebrew Hannah, grace. Vanessa was coined by Jonathan Swift from the first syllables of Esther Vanhomrigh's name. Whether Anessa clips it or was built from Ana and a suffix is not recorded.
Pronouncing Anessa
uh-NESS-ah
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. There is little variation.
Nicknames for Anessa
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1967
- Most girls named
- 2007126 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1564reached in 2002
- Change vs 2024
- −8.1%34 in 2025, from 37
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Anessa in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Vanessa in English — related form
- Anesa in Spanish — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Anessas among us
people named Anessa are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 47,273 born in 2025 was named Anessa
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Wenda test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Anessa's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Wenda climbed just as high around 1949, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Wenda's path sketches the road Anessa is walking now.
Anessa sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Anessa is headed
Anessa should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Anessa beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Anessa in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Ana and Nessa are both complete names in their own right.
- Read correctly on sight by most English speakers.
- Six letters and three syllables, manageable to write.
- Vanessa is far more common and will be assumed.
- Anessa, Anisa and Anessia are all in use and none is dominant.
- There is no documented meaning for the compound.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Anessa to the vote.
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What they receive
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Anessa
Feminine · #4172 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Anessas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,800 people named Anessa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Anessa in 2025?
- Anessa ranks #4172 among US girl names in 2025, with 34 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Anessa?
- About 1 in every 47,273 US girls born in 2025 was named Anessa — 34 in all.
- Will my child share the name Anessa with classmates?
- Anessa will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Anessa
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Roseanna#4172 · Elida#4172 · Neila#4172 · Savina#4172 · Kendyl#4172 · Zakiya#4172 · Naisha#4172 · Ethel#4172
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Anessa? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Anessa and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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