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Girl · English short form of a Hebrew name
Bess
Say it: BES
Meaning
A short form of Elizabeth, from Hebrew Elisheba, usually explained as 'my God is an oath'.
Likelythe main view, with some doubt.
Used as a nickname for Elizabeth since Tudor times.
Its wave through time
Fading since the 1880s
In the United States
- 7,164 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1889, about 1 in 980 girls
- 7 babies in 2020
Through the ages
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Bessie, Bet
Famous bearers
- Bess Truman, First Lady of the United States
- Bess of Hardwick, Elizabethan noblewoman
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Well-known works of literature
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.