Vanyar

The first and smallest of the Kindreds of the Eldar. Under the leadership of Ingwë, the Vanyar were the first to set forth on the Great Journey and the first to reach the shores of Belegaer; they sailed to Aman on the first voyage of Tol Eressëa. In Aman the Vanyar first dwelt in Tirion. Later, they came to love the full light of the Trees and wandered in Valinor or settled on Taniquetil. Many of the Vanyar marched ti the Great Battle with the Host of Valinor, but otherwise they remained content in Valinor, ruled by Ingwë.

The Vanyar were favored among the Eldar by Manwe and Varda and always distrusted Melkor. They are said to have the greatest skill in poetry of all the Elves, and Manwe loves them for it. Their hair was golden and their banners white.

Ingwë is called High King of the Elves. He lives on Taniquetil beneath the halls of Manwë.

History
Vanyar are descendants of Imin, the first Elf to awake at Cuiviénen, his wife Iminyë, and six other pairs of Elves who were awoken by them. Imin's companions, Tata and Enel, later awoke groups of nine and twelve pairs respectively, and Imin decided that since his group was now the smallest and each group that he and his companions discovered was larger than the last, he would now choose third rather than first in order to make up the numbers. However, only a further two groups were discovered, leaving Imin's group of fourteen by far the smallest of the three Elven clans.

When the Elves were discovered by Oromë, each clan chose an ambassador to return with him to Valinor to verify his claims of its greatness. The Minyar (Imin's companions) sent Ingwë. Upon his return, his people were swayed by his testimony and adopted him as their king (appropriate, as the name Ingwë means chieftan in Quenya), and he led them with Oromë to Aman. Ingwë has since been reckoned the High King of all Elves, and became known as Ingwë Ingweron, the "Chief of Chieftains", and his people were known by the rest of the Eldar as the Vanyar. He dwells with them on the slopes of Taniquetil, beneath the halls of Manwë.

After arriving in Aman, the Vanyar were rarely seen even by other Elves. Very few individual Vanyar are named besides Imin, Ingwë, and his sister (or possibly niece) Indis, the second wife of Finwë (the king of the Noldor) and the mother of Fingolfin and Finarfin, the latter of which founded the only house of Noldorin Elves to sport golden Vanyarin hair. After her husband was killed by Melkor in his attack on Formenos, she returned to her people, along with her daughter Findis.

The pure Vanyar were only seen in Middle-earth once after their departure, when Ingwë's son Ingwion led an armed host of his people from Valinor to fight in the War of Wrath. They returned to Aman, along with most of the Eldar living in the now largely destroyed Beleriand, at the end of the First Age.

--Other Known Vanyar==

Another notable Vanya was Indis, the second wife of Finwë and grandmother of Galadriel. It is to her Vanyarin blood that Galadriel owes her famous silver-gold hair.

Quendya
They speak Quendya, a dialect of Quenya found only in Valinor.

The name Vanyar means "the Fair" in Quenya, referring to their golden hair. The Vanyar often called themselves Minyar, "Firsts", their ancient name.

Other versions of the legendarium
In the earliest versions of Tolkien's mythology (see: The History of Middle-earth), they were called Teleri, while the elves known as Teleri in the published version of The Silmarillion were called Solosimpi.