Bess

Where Bess comes from

Variant of Beth, a clipping of Elizabeth.
— Wiktionary's entry for Bess
  • 1 syllable
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #227 among girls — 46 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1885
    Bess Truman born
    First Lady of the United States from 1945 to 1953
  3. 1887
    Peak, #157
    155 babies named Bess — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1922
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #852.
  5. 1953
    Bess Armstrong born
    American actress
In the dictionary
  • A diminutive of the female given name Elizabeth.
Namesakes
  • Bess Truman · First Lady of the United States from 1945 to 1953, 1885–1982
  • Bess Armstrong · American actress, born 1953
  • Bess Meredyth · Film actress, Film writer, 1890–1969
  • Bess Flowers · American actress, 1898–1984
  • Bess Myerson · American model, city commissioner, TV show celebrity; first Jewish-American and first Miss New York elected Miss America, 1924–2014

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.