How Many People Are Named Besse?
An estimated 7 people in the United States have the first name Besse. It is almost exclusively a female name. The average bearer is 131 years old, and Besse peaked in popularity in 1889 with 39 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Besse 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 Besse paired with any surname.
Key Insights
- With an average bearer age of 131, Besse is a vintage name most associated with earlier generations. Most living bearers were born before 1905.
- Besse is exceptionally rare. Fewer than 100 people with this name are estimated to be alive in the U.S. today.
Estimated Living Americans
7
About 1 in 48,964,905 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Very Rare
Predicted Gender
Female
100.0% confidence
Average Age
131
years old
Peak Year
1889
39 births
Total Registered
671
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Besse
Besse is almost exclusively a female name. Out of 671 total births registered, 100.0% were female.
Besse as a female name
Ranked #3,613 in 1926
8 female births in 1926
Peak: 1889 (39 births)
Besse: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Besse span from the 1880s to the 1920s, covering 5 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 1880s, when 214 babies were registered. While Besse is less common than at its peak in the 1880s, it remains a well-established name with steady registrations.
Besse by Decade
How has Besse 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.
Besse + Last Name Combinations
How many people share a full name with Besse as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Names Similar to Besse
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
Besse: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Besse?
We estimate approximately 7 people named Besse 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 48,964,905 Americans share this first name.
Is Besse a common name?
Besse is classified as "Very Rare" and is more popular than 23.8% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 671 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Besse most popular?
Besse reached peak popularity in 1889, when 39 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Besse is approximately 131 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Besse a female name?
Besse is predominantly female. 100.0% of people with this name are female. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Besse Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Besse Smith, Besse Johnson, Besse 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.
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