Insuree

20:01 Oct 26, 2013 

I don't honestly think either of them is "ugly", and the -or / -ee doublet is common in so many other expressions, including quite often made-up ones; I remember reading a light-hearted article about break-ups in relationships where the referred to the 'dumper' and the 'dumpee' :-)
I think there is a reason, in this particular instance, why 'the insured' is available for use — because a person can be insured; however, in the case of leasing, we don't have that linguistic option: a person is not 'let' (since it is of course the property that is actually let) — and hence, there really isn't another option.

19:16 Oct 26, 2013 

@ Gul

sometimes there seems to be no rhyme or reason as to why we accept one term in English and not another:-) But "lessee" does have a long history! Iguess people were leasing property long before insurance companies were formed!

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/lessee

19:07 Oct 26, 2013 

Thanks everyone. It's interesting that insuree is shunned while the equally ugly (in my opinion) lessee is perfectly acceptable.