Bessie
Bessie is a feminine given name, often a diminutive form 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, American operatic soprano
- Bessie Acland, New Zealand painter
- Bessie Anthony, American golfer
- Bessie Anstice Baker, Australian writer
- Bessie Bamber, British artist
- Bessie Bangay, English church worker
- Bessie Banks (actress), American actress and screenwriter
- Bessie Banks, American soul singer
- Bessie Bardot, Australian businesswoman, writer, model and television host
- Bessie Barriscale, American actress
- Bessie Beatty, American journalist
- Bessie Morse Bellingrath, American philanthropist
- Bessie Bellwood, British music hall entertainer
- Bessie Bennett, American jewelry designer and museum curator
- Bessie Blomfield, New Zealand artist
- Bessie Blount, several people
- Bessie Bonehill, English vaudeville performer
- Bessie Braddock, British politician
- Bessie Breuer, American journalist
- Bessie Marsh Brewer, Canadian printmaker, painter, sculptor and teacher
- Bessie Brown, American singer
- Bessie A. Buchanan, American politician
- Bessie Burke, American teacher and principal
- Bessie Buskirk, American actress
- Bessie Callender, American sculptor
- Bessie Carter, English actress
- Bessie Charles, British architect
- Bessie Christie, New Zealand painter
- Bessie Clayton, American dancer
- Bessie Olive Cole, American pharmacist
- Bessie Coleman, American civil aviator
- Bessie Bell Collier, American violinist
- Bessie Boies Cotton, American YWCA staff member
- Bessie Lee Cowie, Australian-New Zealand temperance campaigner, social reformer, lecturer and writer
- Bessie Craigmyle, Scottish poet
- Bessie Cursons, British actress
- Bessie Darling, American murder victim
- Bessie Davidson, Australian artist
- Bessie De Voie, American actress and dancer
- Elizabeth Delany">Elizabeth (given name)">Elizabeth Delany, American civil rights pioneer
- Bessie Hall Dempsey, American aeronautical engineer
- Bessie Dewar, American judge
- Bessie Downes, botanical artist
- Bessie Drysdale, British teacher, suffragette and birth control campaigner
- Bessie Dwyer, American librarian
- Bessie Eyton, American actress
- Bessie Alexander Ficklen, American poet and artist
- Bessie Flower, Aboriginal teacher
- Bessie Bartlett Frankel, American concert singer, composer and clubwoman
- Bessie Gibson, Australian artist
- Bessie Te Wenerau Grace, New Zealand teacher and education leader
- Bessie Griffin, American gospel singer
- Bessie Guthrie, Australian designer, publisher, feminist and campaigner
- Bessie Pease Gutmann, American painter
- Bessie Mecklem Hackenberger, American saxophonist
- Bessie Hall, Canadian seafarer
- Bessie Harvey, American sculptor
- Bessie Hatton, English actress and feminist
- Bessie Ella Hazen, Canadian-American painter
- Bessie Head, South African writer
- Bessie Bradwell Helmer, American lawyer, editor and publisher
- Bessie Abramowitz Hillman, American labor organizer
- Bessie Hocken, New Zealand artist and translator
- Bessie Holland, Australian actress
- Bessilyn Johnson, wife of Chicago millionaire Albert Johnson
- Elizabeth Jones, several people
- Bessie B. Kanouse, American mycologist
- Bessie Mae Kelley, American animator
- Bessie Learn, American actress
- Bessie Lee, Chinese-Canadian community organizer
- Bessie Locke, American educator
- Bessie Loo, American actress and talent agent
- Bessie Love, American-British actress
- Bessie Margolin, American lawyer
- Bessie Niemeyer Marshall, American artist
- Bessie Lee Mauldin, American musician
- Bessie Maxwell, American journalist
- Bessie S. McColgin, American politician
- Bessie McCoy, Irish-American singer
- Bessie Brown Mention, American suffragist and activist
- Betty Mitchell (theatre director), Canadian theatre director and educator
- Bessie Moody-Lawrence, American politician
- Diamond Bessie, American murder victim
- Bessie Boehm Moore, American educator
- Bessie Morse, American educator
- Bessie Moses, American gynecologist and obstetrician
- Bessie I. Murray, American politician
- Bessie Rayner Parkes, English feminist, women's rights activist, poet, essayist and journalist
- Bessie Louise Pierce, American historian
- Bessie Pocock, Australian nursing sister and army matron
- Bessie Gardner du Pont, American historian
- Bessie Leach Priddy, educator, social reformer and leader of the Delta Delta Delta women's fraternity
- Bessie Pullen-Burry, British novelist, explorer and suffragist
- Bessie Raiche, American dentist, physician, and America's first female aviator
- Bessie Bown Ricker, American performer
- Bessie Rischbieth, Australian feminist and social activist
- Bessie Schonberg, German-born dancer, choreographer and teacher
- Bessie Skea, Scottish writer and poet
- Bessie Smith, American blues singer
- Bessie Mae Smith, American blues singer
- Bessie Anderson Stanley, American writer
- Bessie Staples, English badminton player
- Bessie Starkman, Jewish-Canadian gangster
- Bessie Stillman, educator and contributor
- Bessie Stockard, American tennis player
- Bessie Stringfield, American motorcyclist
- Bessie Sudlow, British singer and entertainer
- Bessie Thomashefsky, American actress
- Bessie Toner, American actress
- Bessie Tucker, American blues singer
- Bessie Turner, British singer-songwriter
- Bessie Van Vorst, American author and journalist
- Bessie Potter Vonnoh, American sculptor
- Bessie Watson, Scottish child suffragette
- Bessie Wentworth, English entertainer
- Bessie Williamson, Scottish distillery owner
- Bessie Wynn, American actress and singer
- Bessie Woodson Yancey, 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''