# Curtis (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/curtis/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys |
| Origin | not recorded |
| Meaning | “polite”, “courteous” |
| Pronunciation | /ˈkɝtɪs/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | Curt |
| Variant spellings | Curtiss, Kurtis |
| US babies named this | 262,876 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 260,554 / 2,322 (1% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 5,997, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

From Old French corteis and curteis (Modern French courtois (“polite, courteous”). Doublet of courteous.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1981 | 28 | 3,083 |
| 1982 | 27 | 3,191 |
| 1983 | 26 | 3,170 |
| 1984 | 20 | 3,893 |
| 1985 | 27 | 3,264 |
| 1986 | 26 | 3,376 |
| 1987 | 31 | 3,041 |
| 1988 | 25 | 3,722 |
| 1989 | 20 | 4,545 |
| 1990 | 17 | 5,342 |
| 1991 | 10 | 8,101 |
| 1993 | 7 | 10,845 |
| 1994 | 5 | 13,914 |
| 1995 | 6 | 12,108 |
| 2000 | 5 | 15,581 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 624 | 437 |
| 2012 | 625 | 442 |
| 2013 | 585 | 475 |
| 2014 | 525 | 530 |
| 2015 | 542 | 528 |
| 2016 | 508 | 563 |
| 2017 | 431 | 612 |
| 2018 | 438 | 615 |
| 2019 | 393 | 669 |
| 2020 | 361 | 703 |
| 2021 | 317 | 780 |
| 2022 | 302 | 821 |
| 2023 | 257 | 905 |
| 2024 | 249 | 930 |
| 2025 | 232 | 985 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 135 | 328 |
| 2012 | 120 | 359 |
| 2013 | 101 | 402 |
| 2014 | 93 | 434 |
| 2015 | 91 | 445 |
| 2016 | 107 | 401 |
| 2017 | 76 | 517 |
| 2018 | 51 | 675 |
| 2019 | 66 | 568 |
| 2020 | 42 | 755 |
| 2021 | 41 | 790 |
| 2022 | 34 | 901 |
| 2023 | 32 | 942 |
| 2024 | 27 | 1,076 |
| 2025 | 29 | 1,035 |

## People named Curtis

- Curtis Jones, English association football player (born 2001)
- Curtis Hanson, American filmmaker (1945–2016)
- Curtis Davies, English association football player
- Curtis LeMay, American general and politician (1906–1990)
- Curtis T. McMullen, American mathematician and Fields medallist
- Curtis Yarvin, American far-right political theorist and computer scientist
- Curtis Armstrong, American actor, voice actor, and singer (born 1953)
- Curtis Good, Australian association football player
- Curtis Fuller, American jazz musician (1932–2021)
- Curtis Joseph, Canadian ice hockey player
- Curtis Bernhardt, German film director (1899–1981)
- Steven Curtis Chapman, American contemporary Christian music singer-songwriter

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.