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Bess

#15,303 in 2025Girls' name

My God is an oath, through Elizabeth

Bess has been given to 7,176 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #15,303 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1889, with 182 recorded.

Babies named Bess, 2025

1 in 663,000

Bess over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
05010015020018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Bess: meaning, origin, and history

My God is an oath, through Elizabeth

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Bess means

Bess belongs to the name family reached through Bess → Elizabeth. Its meaning is “my God is an oath”.

Origin, language, and formation

Bess is used in English.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Elizabeth and Beth.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Bess is pronounced /bɛs/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 7,171 girls were recorded with the name Bess between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 182 in 1889; its best national rank was #157 in 1887.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #11,255 in 2020 to #15,303 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #14,792 in 2015 to #15,303 in 2025.

In the United States, 5 boys were recorded with the name Bess between 1894 and 1894. Its highest annual count was 5 in 1894; its best national rank was #1,095 in 1894.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Bess?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 663,000
5 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 321,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#15,303
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
459,581 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Bess sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 459,581 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Bess. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Besss were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Bess was born before 1909 — so the typical Bess is around 116 today.

Median birth year
1909
About 116 years old
Biggest decade
1890s
21.3% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
2.3%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
1,274
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1890s — 21.3% of all recorded uses (1,526).

Is Bess rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
−4,048
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−511
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.83×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
2.7%
Peak was 1889 (182)
Years since peak
136
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
39.5% average annual change
Best rank ever
#157
1887

Spellings of Bess

Bess is not the most common spelling — Bessie is, with 32.7% against Bess's 1.4%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Bess is used

Across 1910–2025, Bess was most concentrated in New York — about 1 in 50,000 girls, against 1 in 126,189 across all states with data. It was least common in Wisconsin (1 in —).

02 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1New York1 in 50,000
  2. 2Oklahoma1 in 50,000
  3. 3Texas1 in 50,000
  4. 4Arkansas1 in 100,000
  5. 5Illinois1 in 100,000
  6. 6Kentucky1 in 100,000
  7. 7Missouri1 in 100,000
  8. 8Mississippi1 in 100,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Bess has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Bess around the world

Where Bess ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1999–2024
    #5,892
    in 2024
  • France
    2007–2007
    #6,691
    in 2007
  • South Australia
    1987–2008
    #796
    in 2008

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Bess

People whose public names include Bess, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Bess in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Bess. Linked forms have their own page here.

Bessie

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Bess by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#15,303
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 4,048
Best rank ever
#157
1887
Peak year
1889
182 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
7,171
Count in 2025
5

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#1,095
1894
Peak year
1894
5 that year
First recorded
1894
Last recorded
1894
All-time count
5
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Bess

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

TessBessyJessBesseBessieBesanEmpressPrincessBlessCypressHeiressGoddessAgnessAiressBestyBessyeDuchessEiressVanessKessBesaIcessInessCaress

Names with a curve like Bess

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Bess, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

HuldaMetaMathildaNelleMaymeHettieAugustaMabelleLuluMyrtieLidaMaud

Sibling names for Bess

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Bess

Top names of 1889, Bess's peak yearThe 1880s in fullOther names that peaked in 1887More old lady namesGirls' names starting with BElizabeth Variations & NicknamesUnique Twin Girl Names