Bessie
Bessie is outside the top 1,000 in 2024, with 10 births. Its best rank was 9th, in 1889.
- Rank in 2024
- —outside the top 1,000
- Births in 2024
- 100.00% of girls
- Peak year
- 19164,122 births
- Best rank
- #9in 1889
- Since 1880
- 170,123people given the name
The story in the numbers
170,123 girls have been named Bessie in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1916, with 4,122 births — 0.39% of all girls recorded that year.
The name has all but left use: 10 births in 2024, against 4,122 at the peak.
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1916, and the 1910s alone account for 20%. It has spent 95 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 48 of them in the top 100 and 2 in the top 10.
Rank among girls, year by year
By decade
| Decade | girls named Bessie | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 15,373 | |
| 1890s | 24,417 | |
| 1900s | 23,984 | |
| 1910s | 33,859 | |
| 1920s | 32,158 | |
| 1930s | 18,035 | |
| 1940s | 11,062 | |
| 1950s | 5,942 | |
| 1960s | 2,592 | |
| 1970s | 1,206 | |
| 1980s | 749 | |
| 1990s | 386 | |
| 2000s | 180 | |
| 2010s | 109 | |
| 2020s | 71 |
In 1916, its biggest year
Bessie was the 56th most given girl’s name that year. The top five girls’ names of 1916 were Mary, Helen, Dorothy, Margaret and Ruth. See all of 1916.
Names that rose and fell with Bessie
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Gertiepeak 1918
- Mamiepeak 1919
- Mabelpeak 1915
- Bertiepeak 1928
- Hilmapeak 1915
- Arriepeak 1922
- Oniepeak 1918
- Cordiepeak 1919
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.