How Many People Are Named Bessie?
people named Bessie are alive in the United States today (estimate)
About 1 in 16,413 people in the US has this name
Based on 170,877 babies named Bessie in Social Security records from 1880 to 2025, and the share of each birth year still alive in 2025.
Popularity Rank
💎 Rare
Peak Year
4,132 births
Trend
Stable (last 10 years)
📖 Name Origin & Meaning
Meaning:
Diminutive of ELIZABETH.
Source of the meaning, origin, pronunciation and related names: Behind the Name.
⚧ Gender Distribution
Almost all of the babies given the name Bessie (99.8%) were girls.
👥 Age Distribution
The average person named Bessie alive today is about 74 years old, and 84% are 60 or older. Half of them were between 66 and 85 in 2025.
📈 Popularity Over Time
Bessie first appears in the records in 1880 and was given most often in 1916, to 4,132 babies. In 2025, 16 babies got the name.
Babies given the name each year, 1880 to 2025
🏆 Rank History
Bessie reached #9 among girls' names in 1889, and was in the top 10 for 2 years, 1888 to 1889. In 2025 it ranked #6,887.
| Girls | |
|---|---|
| Rank in 2025 | #6,887 |
| Best rank | #9 (1889) |
| Years in the top 10 | 2 |
| Years in the top 100 | 48 (1880 to 1927) |
| Rank in its biggest decade | #55 in the 1910s |
📍 State-Wise Distribution
People named Bessie alive today, by the state where they were born (estimate; state records start in 1910).
More people named Bessie were born in Mississippi than in any other state: about 1,906 of those alive today. Compared with the national rate in the same years, Bessie was given 3.5 times as often in Mississippi, 2.7 times in Alabama and 2.7 times in South Carolina.
Look up another name
⊙ We don't save the names you search.