How Many People Are Named Bess?
An estimated 1,328 people in the United States have the first name Bess. It is almost exclusively a female name. The average bearer is 54 years old, and Bess peaked in popularity in 1889 with 182 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Bess as a first name in the United States, including gender data, a year-by-year popularity timeline going back to 1880, a decade breakdown, and state-by-state birth registrations. You can also check how many people share the full name Bess paired with any surname.
Estimated Living Americans
1,328
About 1 in 258,098 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Rare
Predicted Gender
Female
99.9% confidence
Average Age
54
years old
Peak Year
1889
182 births
Total Registered
7,171
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Bess
Bess is almost exclusively a female name. Out of 7,171 total births registered, 99.9% were female.
Bess as a male name
Ranked #1,096 in 1894
5 male births in 1894
Peak: 1894 (5 births)
Bess as a female name
Ranked #13,858 in 2022
6 female births in 2022
Peak: 1889 (182 births)
Bess: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Bess span from the 1880s to the 2020s, covering 15 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 1890s, when 1,531 babies were registered. Bess has declined significantly from its peak in the 1890s. Recent registrations are a fraction of what they were at the name's height.
Bess by Decade
How has Bess tracked across different eras? The table below groups all SSA birth registrations into 10-year periods, with separate male and female counts. The colored bar shows each decade's share relative to the peak.
Bess by State
Birth registrations for Bess span all 21 states and territories in the SSA database. The highest counts are in New York, Texas, Illinois. The lowest are in Wisconsin, California, Alabama. On average, about 42 Besss were registered per state.
Bess + Last Name Combinations
How many people share a full name with Bess as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Names Similar to Bess
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
Bess: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bess?
We estimate approximately 1,328 people named Bess are alive in the United States today. This is based on SSA birth records from 1880 to 2024, adjusted for mortality using CDC life tables. About 1 in 258,098 Americans share this first name.
Is Bess a common name?
Bess is classified as "Rare" and is more popular than 91.8% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 7,171 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Bess most popular?
Bess reached peak popularity in 1889, when 182 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Bess is approximately 54 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Bess a female name?
Bess is predominantly female. 99.9% of people with this name are female. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Bess Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Bess Smith, Bess Johnson, Bess Williams. You can also search any combination on our homepage.
Where does this data come from?
Our estimates use Social Security Administration birth records (1880 to 2024), adjusted for survival using CDC 2023 life tables broken down by sex. The U.S. population figure (342,754,338) is from the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate. Full methodology.
Search for a full name combination
How Many of Me