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Bessy

#15,304 in 2025Girls' name

My God is an oath, through Elizabeth

Bessy has been given to 334 babies in the U.S. since 1914. In 2025 it ranked #15,304 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2001, with 13 recorded.

Babies named Bessy, 2025

1 in 663,000

Bessy over time, 1880–2025

Girls
05101518801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Bessy: meaning, origin, and history

My God is an oath, through Elizabeth

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Bessy means

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

Origin, language, and formation

Bessy is used in English.

Bessy comes through Indonesian diminutive.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Elizabeth.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 334 girls were recorded with the name Bessy between 1914 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 13 in 2001; its best national rank was #3,150 in 1923.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #9,659 in 2020 to #15,304 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #11,027 in 2015 to #15,304 in 2025.

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 Bessy?

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
#15,304
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
459,581 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Bessy 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 Bessy. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Bessys were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Bessy was born before 2002 — so the typical Bessy is around 23 today.

Median birth year
2002
About 23 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
27.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
54.5%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
293
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 27.8% of all recorded uses (93).

Is Bessy 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
−1,563
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−5,645
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−4,277
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.56×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
38.5%
Peak was 2001 (13)
Years since peak
24
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
23.2% average annual change
Best rank ever
#3,150
1923

Spellings of Bessy

Bessy is not the most common spelling — Betty is, with 68.6% against Bessy's 0.02%.

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 Bessy is used

Across 1910–2025, Bessy was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 842,778 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —

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. Bessy has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Bessy around the world

Where Bessy 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
    2008–2008
    #5,545
    in 2008
  • France
    1978–1978
    #2,903
    in 1978

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics and Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques. ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0.

Bessy by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#15,304
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 5,645
Best rank ever
#3,150
1923
Peak year
2001
13 that year
First recorded
1914
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
334
Count in 2025
5

Names similar to Bessy

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

BesanRossyBesseBassyZissyLissyPessyCissyTessyJessyBestyBessyeSissyKissyKassyNissyBessKrissyTressyDaissyMissySossyKeissyCassy

Sibling names for Bessy

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 Bessy

Top names of 2001, Bessy's peak yearThe 2000s in fullOther names that peaked in 1923Girls' names starting with B