Bess
Bess is absent from the 2024 data, which means fewer than five births. Its best rank was 157th, in 1887.
- Rank in 2024
- —fewer than 5 births
- Births in 2024
- 0not in the data
- Peak year
- 1889182 births
- Best rank
- #157in 1887
- Since 1880
- 7,166people given the name
The story in the numbers
7,166 girls have been named Bess in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1889, with 182 births — 0.10% of all girls recorded that year.
The name has all but left use: none recorded in 2024, against 182 at the peak.
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1909, and the 1890s alone account for 21%. It has spent 47 of 145 years in the top 1,000.
Rank among girls, year by year
By decade
| Decade | girls named Bess | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 1,099 | |
| 1890s | 1,526 | |
| 1900s | 1,030 | |
| 1910s | 1,076 | |
| 1920s | 645 | |
| 1930s | 251 | |
| 1940s | 270 | |
| 1950s | 257 | |
| 1960s | 219 | |
| 1970s | 203 | |
| 1980s | 293 | |
| 1990s | 127 | |
| 2000s | 97 | |
| 2010s | 59 | |
| 2020s | 14 |
In 1889, its biggest year
Bess was the 164th most given girl’s name that year. The top five girls’ names of 1889 were Mary, Anna, Elizabeth, Margaret and Emma. See all of 1889.
Names that rose and fell with Bess
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Huldapeak 1895
- Doniepeak 1895
- Mathildapeak 1918
- Ettiepeak 1891
- Mathildepeak 1894
- Metapeak 1892
- Maymepeak 1915
- Nellepeak 1917
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.