Vanessa can refer to:

• Vanessa (name), a girl's name coined by Jonathan Swift, originally as a nickname for Esther Vanhomrigh.
• Vanessa (butterfly), a genus of butterflies
• Vanessa (opera), an opera by Samuel Barber
• Vanessa, a 1952 instrumental song by the Hugo Winterhalter orchestra.
• Vanessa, a 1933 novel by Hugh Walpole
• Vanessa, a character in the 1989 Disney film The Little Mermaid - see Ursula (The Little Mermaid)
• Vanessa (King of Fighters), a character in SNK Playmore's The King of Fighters video game series
• Vanessa, a character on the Nickelodeon sitcom Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide.
• Vanessa (Millais painting), an 1868 painting by Pre-Raphaelite artist John Everett Millais.
• Vanessa, Ontario, a hamlet in Norfolk County, Ontario, Canada
• Vanessa Huxtable, a character on the 1980s TV show The Cosby Show.
• Vanessa Lewis, a character from the Virtua Fighter series

People:

• Vanessa Beecroft, an Italian artist
• Vanessa Bell, a British artist and the sister of author Virginia Woolf.
• Vanessa Bell Calloway, an American actress
• Vanessa Browne-Ward, an Australian high jumper
• Vanessa Carlton, an American singer, most known for her hit "A Thousand Miles"
• Vanessa Duriès, a French writer
• Vanessa Feltz, a British journalist and broadcaster.
• Vanessa Ferlito, American actress.
• Vanessa Ferrari, an Italian gymnast
• Vanessa García, a Puerto Rican freestyle swimmer
• Vanessa Hudgens, a singer and actor of High School Musical,High School Musical 2 ,High School Musical 3: Senior Year''
• Vanessa Lengies, a Canadian actress, starred in American Dreams
• Vanessa Marcil, American actress.
• Vanessa Marshall, a cat
• Vanessa Minnillo, a television personality and model
• Vanessa Morley, Canadian voice actress
• Vanessa Paradis, a French actress and singer
• Vanessa Redgrave, an actress and political activist
• Vanessa A. Williams, American actress
• Vanessa L. Williams, an actress and singer
• Vanessa R. Williams, American gospel singer
• Vanessa Johansson, American actress, sister of Scarlett Johansson