Bess

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A feminine personal name often used as a short form for Elizabeth or other similar names, also occasionally appearing as a surname or place name
2. A given name typically serving as a nickname for longer female names like Elizabeth, sometimes found as a family name or a geographic designation
3. A shortened form of a female proper name derived from Elizabeth, which may also refer to specific localities or be used as a last name in some contexts

Etymology: Bess began as a pet form of Elizabeth, and it is a variant of Beth, which was itself a clipping of Elizabeth. So the name has been shortened twice: first Elizabeth was trimmed to Beth, and then Beth was softened into the vowel-heavy Bess. Each step is the familiar English habit of turning a long formal name into something quicker and more affectionate for everyday use. Nicknames like this were once so common for Elizabeth that they often hid the full name entirely. Bess, Betsy, Betty, Eliza and Libby all grew from the same root, and many of them were used as independent given names in their own right. The name is most associated with Bess of Hardwick, the sixteenth-century builder whose family name it appears in as a geographic designation of sorts, though the place-name use is a separate matter from the given name's origin.