Bess
A diminutive of Elizabeth, derived from the Hebrew Elisheva meaning "God is my oath".
Name Census estimates that about 1,328 living Americans carry the first name Bess. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Bess today is around 54 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bess births was 1889 (182 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bess. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Bess with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.3K
~ 1 in 258,098 Americans
Peak year
1889
182 babies that year
Average age
54
years old
1894 SSA rank
#1,096
Tracked since 1880
Census
Bess in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,155 people with the first name Bess, which placed it at #7,156 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#7,156
National first-name rank
People counted
2.2K
2,155 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bess
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bess is White at 85.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (4.7%) and Black (4.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Bess described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Bess at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.3% · 1,839
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.7% · 102
- Black or African American4.4% · 94
- Hispanic or Latino2.7% · 58
- Two or more races2.1% · 46
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 16
Gender
Gender distribution for Bess
Out of the 7,171 babies given the name Bess since 1880, 99.9% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Bess as a male name
- Ranked #1,096 in 1894
- 5 male births in 1894
- Peak: 1894 (5 births)
Bess as a female name
- Ranked #13,858 in 2022
- 6 female births in 2022
- Peak: 1889 (182 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bess appears almost entirely female. Of the 2,145 people counted with this name, 99.3% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Bess: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bess from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1890s, with 1,531 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1890s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bess by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Bess during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bess' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 21 states and territories. New York, Texas, Illinois recorded the most babies named Bess, while Wisconsin, California, Alabama recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 42 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bess
The given name Bess is a diminutive form of the name Elizabeth, which is derived from the Hebrew name Elisheva, meaning "God is my oath." The name Bess emerged in the Middle Ages, particularly in England, as a shortened version of Elizabeth.
The earliest recorded use of the name Bess can be traced back to the 13th century in England. It was a popular nickname for women named Elizabeth, especially among the lower classes and rural communities. The name gained prominence during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England (1533-1603), who was often affectionately referred to as "Good Queen Bess."
One of the most famous bearers of the name Bess in history was Bess of Hardwick (1527-1608), a wealthy English noblewoman and a prominent figure in the Elizabethan era. She was known for her ambitious nature and her impressive collection of properties, including the iconic Hardwick Hall.
Another notable Bess was Bess Truman (1885-1982), the wife of President Harry S. Truman. She was known for her informal and down-to-earth manner, which endeared her to the American public during her husband's presidency.
In literature, one of the most famous characters named Bess is Bess Bridgenorth from Sir Walter Scott's novel "Peveril of the Peak" (1823). She is a strong-willed and independent woman who defies societal conventions and fights for her love.
Other notable historical figures with the name Bess include Bess Myerson (1924-2014), an American model and politician who became the first Jewish Miss America in 1945, and Bess Streeter Aldrich (1881-1954), an American author and novelist known for her writings about life on the prairie.
Throughout its history, the name Bess has been associated with qualities such as strength, resilience, and a spirited nature, reflecting the character of many of its notable bearers.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Bess
People
Bess + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bess as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Bess: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bess?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,328 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bess going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 258,098 US residents.
Is Bess a common name?
We classify Bess as "Rare". It ranks above 91.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 7,171 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bess most popular?
The single biggest year for Bess was 1889, when 182 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bess is about 54 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bess in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,155 people with the name Bess, or 0.71 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,156 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Bess in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Bess?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bess appears almost entirely female. Of the 2,145 people counted with this name, 99.3% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Bess?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bess is White at 85.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (4.7%) and Black (4.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Bess most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bess in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.3% (1,839 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Bess in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bess a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Bess in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Bess still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bess in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Bess can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Bess?
Find out how many Americans are named Bess on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.