Bessie

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title: "Bessie" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["16th-century-introductions", "english-language-feminine-given-names", "feminine-hypocorisms"] topic_path: "general/16th-century-introductions" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessie" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

Bessie is a feminine given name, often a diminutive form (hypocorism) of Elizabeth, Beatrice and other names since the 16th century. It is sometimes a name in its own right.

Notable people with the name include:

People

• Bessie Abott (1878–1919), American operatic soprano
• Bessie Acland (1870–1959), New Zealand painter
• Bessie Anthony (1880–1912), American golfer
• Bessie Anstice Baker (1849–1914), Australian writer
• Bessie Bamber, British artist
• Bessie Bangay (1889–1987), English church worker
• Bessie Banks (actress) (1887–1969), American actress and screenwriter
• Bessie Banks (born 1938), American soul singer
• Bessie Bardot (born 1974), Australian businesswoman, writer, model and television host
• Bessie Barriscale (1884–1965), American actress
• Bessie Beatty (1886–1947), American journalist
• Bessie Morse Bellingrath (1878–1943), American philanthropist
• Bessie Bellwood (1856–1896), British music hall entertainer
• Bessie Bennett (1870–1939), American jewelry designer and museum curator
• Bessie Blomfield (1880–1984), New Zealand artist
• Bessie Blount, several people
• Bessie Bonehill (1855–1902), English vaudeville performer
• Bessie Braddock (1899–1970), British politician
• Bessie Breuer (1893–1975), American journalist
• Bessie Marsh Brewer (1884–1952), Canadian printmaker, painter, sculptor and teacher
• Bessie Brown (1890–1955), American singer
• Bessie A. Buchanan (1902–1980), American politician
• Bessie Burke (1891–1968), American teacher and principal
• Bessie Buskirk (1892–1952), American actress
• Bessie Callender (1889–1951), American sculptor
• Bessie Carter (born 1993), English actress
• Bessie Charles (c. 1869–1932), British architect
• Bessie Christie (1904–1983), New Zealand painter
• Bessie Clayton (1878–1948), American dancer
• Bessie Olive Cole (1883–1971), American pharmacist
• Bessie Coleman (1892–1926), American civil aviator
• Bessie Bell Collier (1885–1969), American violinist
• Bessie Boies Cotton (1880–1959), American YWCA staff member
• Bessie Lee Cowie (1860–1950), Australian-New Zealand temperance campaigner, social reformer, lecturer and writer
• Bessie Craigmyle (1863–1933), Scottish poet
• Bessie Cursons (born 1995), British actress
• Bessie Darling (1885–1933), American murder victim
• Bessie Davidson (1879–1965), Australian artist
• Bessie De Voie (1880–1974), American actress and dancer
• Annie Elizabeth Delany (1891–1995), American civil rights pioneer
• Bessie Hall Dempsey, American aeronautical engineer
• Bessie Dewar (born 1980), American judge
• Bessie Downes (1860–1920), botanical artist
• Bessie Drysdale (1871–1950), British teacher, suffragette and birth control campaigner
• Bessie Dwyer (1866–1944), American librarian
• Bessie Eyton (1890–1965), American actress
• Bessie Alexander Ficklen (1861–1945), American poet and artist
• Bessie Flower (c. 1851–1895), Aboriginal teacher
• Bessie Bartlett Frankel (1884–1959), American concert singer, composer and clubwoman
• Bessie Gibson (1868–1961), Australian artist
• Bessie Te Wenerau Grace (1889–1944), New Zealand teacher and education leader
• Bessie Griffin (1822–1989), American gospel singer
• Bessie Guthrie (1905–1977), Australian designer, publisher, feminist and campaigner
• Bessie Pease Gutmann (1876–1960), American painter
• Bessie Mecklem Hackenberger (1876–1942), American saxophonist
• Bessie Hall (1849–1930), Canadian seafarer
• Bessie Harvey (1929–1994), American sculptor
• Bessie Hatton (1867–1964), English actress and feminist
• Bessie Ella Hazen, Canadian-American painter
• Bessie Head (1937–1986), South African writer
• Bessie Bradwell Helmer (1858–1927), American lawyer, editor and publisher
• Bessie Abramowitz Hillman (1889–1970), American labor organizer
• Bessie Hocken (1848–1933), New Zealand artist and translator
• Bessie Holland, Australian actress
• Bessilyn Johnson (1871–1943), wife of Chicago millionaire Albert Johnson
• Elizabeth Jones, several people
• Bessie B. Kanouse (1889–1969), American mycologist
• Bessie Mae Kelley, American animator
• Bessie Learn (1888–1987), American actress
• Bessie Lee (1924–2016), Chinese-Canadian community organizer
• Bessie Locke (1865–1952), American educator
• Bessie Loo (1902–1998), American actress and talent agent
• Bessie Love (1898–1986), American-British actress
• Bessie Margolin (1909–1996), American lawyer
• Bessie Niemeyer Marshall, American artist
• Bessie Lee Mauldin (1920–1983), American musician
• Bessie Maxwell (1871–1946), American journalist
• Bessie S. McColgin (1875–1972), American politician
• Bessie McCoy (1888–1931), Irish-American singer
• Bessie Brown Mention (1873–1946), American suffragist and activist
• Betty Mitchell (theatre director) (1896–1976), Canadian theatre director and educator
• Bessie Moody-Lawrence (1941–2012), American politician
• Diamond Bessie (1854–1877), American murder victim
• Bessie Boehm Moore (1902–1995), American educator
• Bessie Morse (1869–1948), American educator
• Bessie Moses, American gynecologist and obstetrician
• Bessie I. Murray, American politician
• Bessie Rayner Parkes (1829–1925), English feminist, women's rights activist, poet, essayist and journalist
• Bessie Louise Pierce (1886–1974), American historian
• Bessie Pocock (1863–1946), Australian nursing sister and army matron
• Bessie Gardner du Pont (1864–1949), American historian
• Bessie Leach Priddy (1871–1935), educator, social reformer and leader of the Delta Delta Delta women's fraternity
• Bessie Pullen-Burry (1858–1937), British novelist, explorer and suffragist
• Bessie Raiche (1875–1932), American dentist, physician, and America's first female aviator
• Bessie Bown Ricker (1872–1953), American performer
• Bessie Rischbieth (1874–1967), Australian feminist and social activist
• Bessie Schonberg (1906–1997), German-born dancer, choreographer and teacher
• Bessie Skea (1923–1996), Scottish writer and poet
• Bessie Smith (1894–1937), American blues singer
• Bessie Mae Smith, American blues singer
• Bessie Anderson Stanley (1879–1952), American writer
• Bessie Staples, English badminton player
• Bessie Starkman (1890–1930), Jewish-Canadian gangster
• Bessie Stillman (1871–1947), educator and contributor
• Bessie Stockard, American tennis player
• Bessie Stringfield (1911–1993), American motorcyclist
• Bessie Sudlow (1849–1928), British singer and entertainer
• Bessie Thomashefsky (1873–1962), American actress
• Bessie Toner (1885–1951), American actress
• Bessie Tucker (c. 1906–1933), American blues singer
• Bessie Turner, British singer-songwriter
• Bessie Van Vorst (1873–1928), American author and journalist
• Bessie Potter Vonnoh (1872–1955), American sculptor
• Bessie Watson (1900–1992), Scottish child suffragette
• Bessie Wentworth (1873–1901), English entertainer
• Bessie Williamson (1910–1982), Scottish distillery owner
• Bessie Wynn (1876–1968), American actress and singer
• Bessie Woodson Yancey (1882–1958), African-American poet
• Bessie (South African queen), South African traditional aristocrat

Fictional characters

• Bessie Higgenbottom, a character in the TV animated series The Mighty B!
• Elizabeth Bessie Potter, a character on the TV series Dawson's Creek
• Bessie, a road paving machine in the 2006 animated film Cars
• Bessie Busybody, a character in the TV series LazyTown
• Bessie, a car in the TV series Doctor Who
• Bessie Blithesome, a character from the 1902 L. Frank Baum book The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus

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