Besse

Girls' name

Meaning unconfirmed; recorded in an 1884 name reference

Besse has been given to 671 babies in the U.S. since 1880. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1889, with 39 recorded.

Babies named Besse, 1926

1 in 287,000

Besse over time, 1880–2025

Girls

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Besse: meaning, origin, and history

Meaning unconfirmed; recorded in an 1884 name reference

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Besse means

Besse is a given name.

The naming story behind Besse

Charlotte M. Yonge’s 1884 History of Christian Names includes the exact spelling Besse in its glossary. The entry labels it masculine and points to printed page(s) 339.

The glossary’s abbreviated description reads: “Nor. Teu. bear”. This is the historical author’s wording, including its language abbreviations and any proposed interpretation. It is presented as historical evidence, not as a verified modern translation. Victorian classifications and root explanations can differ from later linguistic research.

For Besse, the current short meaning therefore remains unconfirmed. Establishing its modern etymology requires a current reference that documents the exact form and its relationship to the proposed earlier words.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 671 girls were recorded with the name Besse between 1880 and 1926. Its highest annual count was 39 in 1889; its best national rank was #388 in 1889.

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.

How common is Besse?

Besse had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1926, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1926: 1 in 287,000; 8 of 2,295,839 births
Among girls only: 1 in 148,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 1926: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 198,920 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Besse 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 1926 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 198,920 children born in 1926 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Besse. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Besses were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Besse was born before 1894 — so the typical Besse is around 131 today.

Median birth year: 1894; About 131 years old
Biggest decade: 1880s; 31.9% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 32.6%; Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950: 0; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1880s — 31.9% of all recorded uses (214).

Is Besse 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: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1889 (39)
Years since peak: 136; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 44.1% average annual change
Best rank ever: #388; 1889

Spellings of Besse

Besse is not the most common spelling — Bessie is, with 24.5% against Besse's 0.10%.

Bessie24.5%170,140
Jessie24.5%170,036
Tessa8.1%55,926
Betsy7.1%48,947
Reese6.5%44,775
Essie5.7%39,682
Bette5.0%34,897
Belle2.8%19,227

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.

Besse by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #388; 1889
Peak year: 1889; 39 that year
First recorded: 1880
Last recorded: 1926
All-time count: 671
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Besse

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

Bessy Besan Elysse Elisse Alysse Alisse Bess Rosse Besty Bessye Matisse Analisse Jesse Clarisse Ivelisse Caresse Sharisse Anelisse Melisse Rousse Denisse Cherisse Finesse Besma

Sibling names for Besse

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

For a sister

Meta Lulu Maud Maude Hulda Golda Lauretta Era

For a brother

Will Grover Garfield Dewey Gustave Waldo Orrin Winfield

Explore around Besse

Top names of 1889, Besse's peak year The 1880s in full Other names that peaked in 1889 Girls' names starting with B