Bess (name)
Bess is both a surname and a feminine given name. It is often short for Elizabeth. Notable people with the name include:
Given name
- Elizabeth I, Queen of England, also known as "Good Queen Bess"
- Bess of Hardwick, daughter of John Hardwick of Hardwicke
- Bess Abell, American presidential aide
- Bess Streeter Aldrich, American author
- Bess Armstrong, American actress
- Bess Atwell, English musician
- Bess Berman, American record label executive
- Bess Bonnier, American jazz pianist, composer, and music educator
- Bess Bukodi, British professor
- Bess Phipps Dawson, American painter
- Bess Marie Eversull, first woman to earn a PhD in mathematics from the University of Cincinnati
- Bess Flowers, American actress
- Bess Flynn, American actress and writer
- Bess Freedman, American businesswoman
- Bess Furman, American journalist
- Bess Goodykoontz, American educator
- Bess Larkin Housser Harris, Canadian painter
- Bess Lomax Hawes, American folk musician, folklorist, and researcher
- Bess Heath, English cricketer
- Elizabeth Holland, mistress of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk
- Bess Houdini, stage assistant and wife of Harry Houdini
- Bess Hudson, New Zealand nurse
- Bess Johnson, American actress
- Bess Kalb, American television writer
- Bess Kargman, American filmmaker
- Bess Keaney, Australian rules footballer
- Bess Marcus, American psychologist
- Bess Meisler, American actress
- Bess Mensendieck, American physician and gymnastics teacher
- Bess Meredyth, screenwriter and silent film actress
- Bess Gearhart Morrison, American actress, educator, and speaker
- Bess Motta, American actress, singer, choreographer, and exercise demonstrator
- Bess Myerson, first Jewish Miss America, and politician
- Bess Nkabinde, South African judge
- Bess Norriss, Australian artist
- Bess O'Brien, American film producer and director
- Bess Price, Aboriginal Australian activist and politician
- Bess Rogers, American indie rock musician
- Bess Rous, American actress
- Bess Whitehead Scott, American journalist
- Bess Stinson, American politician
- Bess Taffel, American screenwriter
- Bess Thomas, Australian librarian
- Bess Truitt, Oklahoma Poet Laureate from 1945 to 1946
- Bess Truman, wife of President Harry S. Truman
- Bess Bolden Walcott, African-American educator, librarian, museum curator, and activist
- Bess Ward, American oceanographer
- Bess Wohl, American dramatist
Surname
- Brandon Bess, West Indies Test cricketer
- Calvin Bess, Bishop of Trinidad and Tobago
- Daniel Bess,, American television and film actor
- Davone Bess, National Football League wide receiver
- Dom Bess, England cricketer
- Georges Bess, French comics artist
- Lane Bess, American venture capitalist
- Rachel Bess, American painter
- Robert T. Bess, British Guiana-born American stockbroker and civil rights activist
- Rufus Bess, former National Football League cornerback
Fictional characters
- Bess, in the opera Porgy and Bess
- Bess, an alternate personality of Jessica Buchanan in the American soap opera One Life to Live
- Bess Lindstrom, in the television series The Mary Tyler Moore Show
- Bess Marvin, one of Nancy Drew's closest friends
- Elizabeth "Bess" McCord, protagonist of the American drama series ''Madam Secretary''