Venus

Actually, the ancient people of the Etruscan era worshiped a Deity with a name of Vene (or, similar word structure formation). She was known as the goddess of herbs and plants, emanating the beauty of the rose and myrtle plants; thus, this gorgeous Goddess was associated with "Earth" and the knowledge thereof. She was portrayed as a herbalist from her VAST knowledge of the "green Earth"; hence, why modern correspondences with the modern Roman Deity of Venus are always the color of green, the beauty of the rose and myrtle, as well as the seashell, as the representation of water is always depicted for Goddesses of whom generate life, as the original intention of this Goddess. Later in time, the ancient Etruscan Deity, Vene, or closely formed name, came to be associated with witchcraft as her worshipers were known to make "love potions" in her honor. Many of the Etruscan people asked many wise women with the knowledge of such herbs for healing to make "the love of their life appear and whisk them away to an enchanted life" through "love potions"; therefore, such women who had a vast knowledge of herbs were known as a Vica, which is another variation of the word "Wicca", or "Witch", as this word WAS associated with "healers", or "herb healers", etc. However, just as "Witches" were persecuted in later times, they were also persecuted during the Etruscan and Roman times, also! So, the roots of the Goddess Venus or Aphrodite have MANY meanings; especially, associating "love", "beauty", "lifeblood", "worship", "vein", and later, when correlated with "Witches", the word association became maleficient, such as with words correlating to "venom", or "poisoning by herbs". All these aspects are later incorporated into the known Deity of Venus. Now, the Etruscan civilization was WAY before the Greek, so a lot of confusion surrounds the understanding among many who only learn the straight history of the Greek and Roman pantheon of gods and goddesses of mythology. Now, since Vene became associated with "love potions" & "witches", many people of the ROMAN era, during the transition of the end of the Etruscan Empire to the Roman, I believe, associated this Deity with "venom", or poison, as the people of the early Roman era, and late Etruscan era used many words with the Latin root of Vene, to mean "one who poisons", etc. However, ironically, the Latin root word means "life", or versions, thereof, and we also see this root word used for words such as "vein", or "lifeblood", or "venerate", which means "to be worshiped". So, the obvious changes during the civilizations and the many variations of the meaning of the Deities to those of that era are as vast as they are today, especially regarding the interpretation of religion or the meaning of "God". Nothing is as black and white as we believe. We must remember, these ancient people weren't mindless, stupid drones who all followed the same structure of belief just because it was part of their culture. They had PLENTY of debates regarding the meaning of these Deities; and, they were numerous, vast interpretations, just as their interpretations today! :)

Considering that the verb for love in Latin is amare, and nouns in Romantic languages are usually close to their verbs, I really doubt that Venus means "love, sexual desire." It's simply a connotation because Venus and Aphrodite are one in the same.

Venus was the daughter of Zeus and the mother of Cupid and the wife of Hermes.

Actually, ianlam is correct in terms of Homer's epic "The Iliad," which states that Aphrodite (Venus) is the daughter of Zeus and his consort Dione. Look it up for yourself. The other popular theory is that Venus was born when Uranus's castrated genitalia were thrown into the sea, and she was subsequently born from the foam/waves that resulted. Therefore Uranus could only be her father in the loosest sense of the term, but in the Iliad, Zeus was clearly her father.

To the person who said Venus was Zeus' daughter. That's not true. First of all you've combined Greek and Roman mythology. Zeus is Greek and Venus is Roman. Secondly, Aphrodite is more commonly thought to be the daughter of Uranus, so Venus would be the daughter of Caelus, the Roman equivalant of Uranus.
You were right about Cupid (Eros) being the son of Venus (Aphrodite).
Again, Venus is Roman and Hermes is Greek. The Roman equivalant of Hermes is Mercury. Though some versions claim Aphrodite and Hermes had children together, she was not married to him. She was married to Hephaestus (Vulcan).