Wanesa
From Greek, the name means "butterfly". It belonged mostly to the 2000s and has faded to almost nothing since: only a handful of girls get it in a year now, and most Poles have never met a Wanesa.
Wanesa Pronunciation
Wanesa is pronounced vah-NE-sah (/vaˈnɛsa/).
What Wanesa means
Where Wanesa comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Wanesa is the Polish spelling of Vanessa, a name whose origin is traced to Greek. Its short meaning is butterfly, in Polish motyl.
The butterfly sense came from natural history rather than old speech. In 1807 the Danish entomologist Johan Christian Fabricius named a genus of brush-footed butterflies Vanessa, and over the following two centuries that word drew close to the given name. The name came first. The meaning was fastened on afterward, once Vanessa was already in circulation.
On a Polish class register, Wanesa lands near the bottom among the W names, with no diminutive trailing behind it. The origin stays Greek, the association butterfly, the plain Polish word motyl.
When Wanesa celebrates name day
Wanesa appears 2 times in the Polish name day calendar, 1 of them as a main name, the first on 22 April.
The days Polish calendars list this name on. By custom you celebrate one of them, usually the first after your birthday.
Rarer dates. Only the most complete calendars add this name on these days. Most skip them, so hardly anyone celebrates then.
How many people are named Wanesa
1 in 18616 women in Poland is named Wanesa. 1,211 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #877 among female names.
Wanesa's popularity over time
2 girls were given the name in 2025, ranking #1879 among newborns. It has been falling steadily since 2000. Still the #877 name among living women, even as it slips to #1879 among newborns.
Where Wanesa is most popular
Wanesa is most popular in West Pomeranian, 241% above the national average (2 girls born 2019–2025), followed by Kuyavian-Pomeranian (+163%) and Pomeranian (+96%).
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West Pomeranian2 girls born+241%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian2 girls born+163%
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Pomeranian2 girls born+96%
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Silesian3 girls born+90%
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Lower Silesian2 girls born+83%
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Greater Poland2 girls born+34%
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Lesser Poland2 girls born+27%
Wanesa as a middle name
Wanesa is a first name for 1,211 women in Poland and a middle name for another 407, a 75/25 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 340th, between Ramona (407) and Helga (406).
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#338 Johanna409
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#339 Ramona407
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#340 Wanesa407
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#341 Helga406
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#342 Kornela406