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I prefer Beth myself. Bess makes me think of Bessie which makes me think of a farm animal.

I always hated it. Madam Secretary might be making me hate it a little less, but still not my favourite.

Sounds like the name of a farmer's wife from the Great Plains. (That, or a cow.)

This message was edited 1/29/2019, 2:36 PM

For some reason this name brings to mind 2 different images: a reliable, old, plodding mare AND Granny from Tweety and Sylvester.

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I would't use it.

It reminds me of Tess, Bette, Nan, Nell, Beulah. It seems antiquated and charming and heavy.

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I've never heard of a Bess IRL. My main cultural associations with it are...Good Queen Bess, The Highway Man (poem/song), Porgy and Bess, Bessie Smith.

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It'd seem weird to me as a NN for Elizabeth, if I heard it used nowadays, although I think it could be cute as a pet name for Beatrice or as a full name.

In theory it's pretty, but I wouldn't use it on a child of mine, who might struggle with her weight like I have. She wouldn't need kids making fun of her cow name.

As in Good Queen Bess? Yeah, why not? But there are other nns for Elizabeth that I like better.

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One of my mother's friends used to call her Bess as a sort of private nn. My daughter never knew her grandmother; she is also a Beatrice and went through a brief phase of giving her name as Bess if she phoned a radio station! Odd.

Bess is a terrific name. It's compact, sweet and strong. I also very much like Bessie and wish it would come back into fashion.

Sounds like a cow name.

It's alright. I've never known a Bess so for me, my thoughts are probably almost entirely word-associative. Best, boss. It's adult-ish for me, not sweet or youthful, because "old-fashioned" and no longer a natural nickname.
Positive traits I could easily picture belonging to someone named Bess: qualified, shrewd, competent, ambitious, fit
Negative traits I could picture easily: insensitive, sarcastic, ruthless, imperious, impatient
I like this image alright, but the sound of the name doesn't appeal to me very much.

I find it clunky-sounding, like it's big and has a deep voice, the same as with Beth.

I don’t really have a picture in my mind of Bess. I guess it’s just sort of a quiet, blah name, because I don’t hate it, but I certainly don’t like it either.

Cute and sweet.

The only name more bovine and barnyard is Bessie.

Hi !!!

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Uhm... I much prefer Lilibet as diminutive for Elizabeth.

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I used to associate Bess / Bessie with the supercentenarian (Bessie Cooper if I remember).

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I also link this name with an old aunt (nearly in every movie I see the protagonist has a distant aunt called Bess/Bessie). Lol

I like it. The sound is nice and it has certain nice attitude about it. (can't describe that properly)

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Sadly, my second though when seeing it is that it's a cow's name. I wish it was ready for a comeback, but I doubt that.