The Bessie is named after Bessie Smith. Bessie Smith was an American blues singer. Nicknamed the Empress of the Blues, she was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s.
 
We honorably mention Bessie Coleman. Bessie Coleman was an American civil aviator. She was the first woman of African-American descent, and the first of Native American descent, to hold a pilot license.