Meaning not yet researched.
Bessie: US girls given the name each year, 1880 to 2025, from Social Security card applications. 16 in 2025. Its best rank was #9 in 1889.
US births per year · SSA card applications
Peaked at #9 in 1889; #6,889 in 2025. Every baby recorded as Bessie in 2025 was a girl.
Baby name · US data 1880–2025
#6,889 for US girls in 2025. Its best year was 1889, at #9.
Hover, tap or use the arrow keys for any year. Years with fewer than five babies of a sex are not published by SSA and show as zero.
Bessie: US girls given the name each year from 1880 to 2025. 16 girls in 2025. Peak: #9 in 1889 · most girls in one year: 4,122 (1916).
In 2025, 16 US girls were named Bessie, making it the 6,889th most common girls’ name of the year, up 2,777 places from #9,666 in 2024. That is 6 more than the 10 girls named Bessie in 2024. Its best rank for girls was #9, reached in 1889. The most girls given the name in a single year was 4,122, in 1916. For comparison, it was #9,581 in 2015 and #270 in 1950.
Social Security card records list Bessie in every one of the 146 years from 1880 to 2025; in 1880 there were 796 babies with the name. In all, 170,877 US babies have been given the name, 99.5% of them girls and 0.4% boys. Its busiest decade was the 1910s, with 33,991 babies named Bessie.
Over the 10 years from 2016 to 2025, 127 US girls were named Bessie; the busiest of those years was 2021, with 17. In 2025 that was about 1 in 100,454 of the girls in SSA’s list for the year.
Related spellings in the SSA files include Bess (7,176 babies since 1880). Rarer spellings such as Bessy, Bessye and Bissie are summarised on this page. The open nickname list we use links it to Bess.
Meaning not yet researched.
We publish a meaning only with a cited source and a confidence label, and never generate one. Meanings are being researched for the most common names first.
Wikidata records this spelling as a given name in English. That is where the name is used, not necessarily where it comes from.
Rare spellings summarised here: Bessy (334), Bessye (105), Bissie (21), Beasia (6).
Numbers are all-time US births. Links come from Wikidata’s “said to be the same as” (P460, CC0) and our spelling rule: at most two letters different, with the same sound pattern.
Bessie is listed as a nickname for Bess, Elizabeth.
Source: carltonnorthern/nicknames (Apache-2.0).
Births and national rank for each year SSA lists the name, newest first.
| Year | Girls | Girls rank | Boys | Boys rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 16 | #6,889 | — | — |
| 2024 | 10 | #9,666 | — | — |
| 2023 | 15 | #7,308 | — | — |
| 2022 | 13 | #8,113 | — | — |
| 2021 | 17 | #6,735 | — | — |
| 2020 | 16 | #6,974 | — | — |
| 2019 | 11 | #9,220 | — | — |
| 2018 | 9 | #10,700 | — | — |
| 2017 | 12 | #8,883 | — | — |
| 2016 | 8 | #11,963 | — | — |
| 2015 | 11 | #9,581 | — | — |
| 2014 | 11 | #9,635 | — | — |
| 2013 | 17 | #7,102 | — | — |
| 2012 | 13 | #8,706 | — | — |
| 2011 | 9 | #11,318 | — | — |
| 2010 | 8 | #12,456 | — | — |
| 2009 | 9 | #11,604 | — | — |
| 2008 | 15 | #8,185 | — | — |
| 2007 | 15 | #8,161 | — | — |
| 2006 | 19 | #6,626 | — | — |
| 2005 | 15 | #7,565 | — | — |
| 2004 | 7 | #12,960 | — | — |
| 2003 | 15 | #7,262 | — | — |
| 2002 | 28 | #4,397 | — | — |
| 2001 | 26 | #4,580 | — | — |
| 2000 | 31 | #3,995 | — | — |
| 1999 | 21 | #5,060 | — | — |
| 1998 | 27 | #4,152 | — | — |
| 1997 | 32 | #3,557 | — | — |
| 1996 | 30 | #3,638 | — | — |
| 1995 | 26 | #3,987 | — | — |
| 1994 | 37 | #3,108 | — | — |
| 1993 | 24 | #4,274 | — | — |
| 1992 | 51 | #2,490 | — | — |
| 1991 | 65 | #2,076 | — | — |
| 1990 | 73 | #1,907 | — | — |
| 1989 | 60 | #2,075 | — | — |
| 1988 | 53 | #2,154 | — | — |
| 1987 | 59 | #1,920 | — | — |
| 1986 | 66 | #1,751 | — | — |
| 1985 | 85 | #1,461 | — | — |
| 1984 | 68 | #1,616 | — | — |
| 1983 | 67 | #1,647 | — | — |
| 1982 | 89 | #1,375 | — | — |
| 1981 | 103 | #1,254 | — | — |
| 1980 | 99 | #1,288 | — | — |
| 1979 | 102 | #1,251 | — | — |
| 1978 | 91 | #1,314 | — | — |
| 1977 | 92 | #1,283 | — | — |
| 1976 | 106 | #1,122 | — | — |
| 1975 | 131 | #957 | — | — |
| 1974 | 116 | #1,033 | — | — |
| 1973 | 120 | #990 | — | — |
| 1972 | 149 | #863 | — | — |
| 1971 | 140 | #927 | — | — |
| 1970 | 160 | #844 | — | — |
| 1969 | 156 | #823 | — | — |
| 1968 | 159 | #794 | — | — |
| 1967 | 186 | #717 | — | — |
| 1966 | 202 | #686 | — | — |
| 1965 | 273 | #579 | — | — |
| 1964 | 290 | #581 | — | — |
| 1963 | 293 | #574 | — | — |
| 1962 | 330 | #536 | — | — |
| 1961 | 318 | #557 | — | — |
| 1960 | 385 | #493 | — | — |
| 1959 | 396 | #486 | — | — |
| 1958 | 443 | #451 | — | — |
| 1957 | 465 | #435 | — | — |
| 1956 | 518 | #396 | 5 | #3,998 |
| 1955 | 533 | #381 | — | — |
| 1954 | 652 | #331 | — | — |
| 1953 | 650 | #322 | — | — |
| 1952 | 729 | #297 | — | — |
| 1951 | 762 | #284 | — | — |
| 1950 | 794 | #270 | — | — |
| 1949 | 946 | #241 | 7 | #3,049 |
| 1948 | 998 | #236 | 5 | #3,726 |
| 1947 | 1,012 | #233 | — | — |
| 1946 | 1,022 | #225 | 5 | #3,571 |
| 1945 | 1,075 | #190 | — | — |
| 1944 | 1,122 | #189 | — | — |
| 1943 | 1,148 | #190 | — | — |
| 1942 | 1,266 | #176 | 6 | #3,251 |
| 1941 | 1,176 | #173 | 10 | #2,345 |
| 1940 | 1,297 | #162 | 6 | #3,163 |
| 1939 | 1,361 | #158 | 11 | #2,174 |
| 1938 | 1,419 | #155 | 16 | #1,749 |
| 1937 | 1,550 | #143 | 9 | #2,503 |
| 1936 | 1,645 | #136 | 12 | #2,072 |
| 1935 | 1,756 | #129 | 20 | #1,545 |
| 1934 | 1,832 | #128 | 12 | #2,137 |
| 1933 | 1,881 | #117 | 17 | #1,715 |
| 1932 | 2,093 | #117 | 10 | #2,479 |
| 1931 | 2,116 | #113 | 17 | #1,778 |
| 1930 | 2,382 | #108 | 23 | #1,536 |
| 1929 | 2,380 | #107 | 20 | #1,677 |
| 1928 | 2,661 | #101 | 27 | #1,419 |
| 1927 | 2,975 | #88 | 16 | #2,049 |
| 1926 | 3,054 | #89 | 26 | #1,435 |
| 1925 | 3,266 | #87 | 14 | #2,206 |
| 1924 | 3,404 | #86 | 21 | #1,729 |
| 1923 | 3,387 | #81 | 14 | #2,240 |
| 1922 | 3,447 | #81 | 25 | #1,508 |
| 1921 | 3,678 | #75 | 12 | #2,511 |
| 1920 | 3,906 | #71 | 14 | #2,234 |
| 1919 | 4,106 | #59 | 12 | #2,396 |
| 1918 | 4,101 | #61 | 16 | #2,007 |
| 1917 | 3,927 | #61 | 16 | #1,909 |
| 1916 | 4,122 | #56 | 10 | #2,565 |
| 1915 | 3,888 | #57 | 15 | #1,887 |
| 1914 | 3,260 | #55 | 12 | #1,881 |
| 1913 | 2,952 | #47 | 14 | #1,450 |
| 1912 | 2,832 | #43 | 16 | #1,184 |
| 1911 | 2,279 | #40 | 9 | #1,201 |
| 1910 | 2,392 | #37 | 12 | #936 |
| 1909 | 2,276 | #35 | 12 | #846 |
| 1908 | 2,201 | #34 | 5 | #1,393 |
| 1907 | 2,311 | #30 | 11 | #822 |
| 1906 | 2,396 | #21 | 7 | #1,017 |
| 1905 | 2,446 | #20 | 9 | #844 |
| 1904 | 2,340 | #21 | 5 | #1,225 |
| 1903 | 2,339 | #21 | 15 | #580 |
| 1902 | 2,448 | #19 | 7 | #943 |
| 1901 | 2,183 | #21 | 11 | #638 |
| 1900 | 3,044 | #15 | 11 | #790 |
| 1899 | 2,280 | #19 | — | — |
| 1898 | 2,647 | #16 | 6 | #1,020 |
| 1897 | 2,407 | #17 | 6 | #951 |
| 1896 | 2,435 | #18 | 12 | #647 |
| 1895 | 2,542 | #15 | 7 | #884 |
| 1894 | 2,520 | #13 | 15 | #522 |
| 1893 | 2,352 | #15 | 8 | #775 |
| 1892 | 2,541 | #13 | 12 | #605 |
| 1891 | 2,323 | #12 | 8 | #712 |
| 1890 | 2,370 | #11 | — | — |
| 1889 | 2,343 | #9 | 7 | #804 |
| 1888 | 2,278 | #10 | 12 | #580 |
| 1887 | 1,838 | #13 | 5 | #943 |
| 1886 | 1,791 | #12 | 5 | #981 |
| 1885 | 1,588 | #13 | 7 | #770 |
| 1884 | 1,451 | #15 | 5 | #984 |
| 1883 | 1,241 | #18 | — | — |
| 1882 | 1,144 | #18 | 9 | #656 |
| 1881 | 903 | #22 | 8 | #658 |
| 1880 | 796 | #23 | — | — |
About the data: counts are Social Security card applications for US births, for names given to at least five babies of a sex in a year (SSA, names.zip, public domain). Ranks follow SSA’s own order: most births first, ties alphabetical. Files retrieved 2026-10-05 (checksum on our sources page).