Vanessa Hudgens explains her tattoo

Vanessa Hudgens has explained the meaning behind her new tattoo.

The High School Musical actress recently had a tattoo of a butterfly on her neck, because Vanessa means butterfly.

“It was very last minute, but I’ve actually wanted it for years,” she said. “A butterfly landed on my mom’s stomach a week before I was born and that’s how I got my name, because Vanessa means butterfly — it’s a Latin derivative.”

Now, the 22-year-old actress, who recently split from boyfriend Zac Efron, feels like a badass.

“It’s my very first tattoo, and I kind of feel like a bada*s now!” she said.

“It was so much fun,” she said. “It’s kind of a thing of the past now though.”