VANESSA ANNE HUDGENS VANESSA Meaning: Butterfly Origin: Greek More Information:Invented by author Jonathan Swift. He arrived at it by rearranging the initial syllables of the first name and surname of Esther Vanhomrigh, his close friend. Vanessa was later used as the name of a genus of butterfly. ANNE Meaning: Gracious Origin: Hebrew More Information: French form of HANNAH. This is the name traditionally assigned to the mother of the Virgin Mary, though she is not mentioned in the Bible. The name was borne by a 17th-century English queen and also by the second wife of Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn (the mother of Queen Elizabeth I), who was eventually beheaded in the Tower of London. This is also the name of the heroine in 'Anne of Green Gables' by Canadian author L. M. Montgomery.