Vanessa Hudgens has explained the personal reasons behind her first tattoo and revealed she feels like a "badass" for going under the needle.

The former High School Musical star headed to a tattoo parlor in New York last month and left with a large butterfly inked on the back of her neck.

The actress has now opened up about her first piece of body art during an appearance on The Late Show With David Letterman, insisting the butterfly comes from a story her mother told her.

She says, "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."

She adds, "It's my very first tattoo. I kind of feel like a badass now."