# Cortese (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/cortese/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname from Italian.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Italian |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 4,221 |
| US rank (2010) | 7,844 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 73,145 people |
| Change since 2000 | +2.7% (4,109 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

Borrowed from Italian Cortese.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Cortese in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 93% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 0.3% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 4.4% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.6% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.3% |
| Two or more races | 1.4% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Cortese in the United States.

## People named Cortese

- Isabella Cortese, 16th-century Italian alchemist and writer
- Joseph Cortese, American actor
- Dan Cortese, American actor and director
- Genevieve Padalecki, American actress

## Similar surnames

Cortez, Cortes, Crites, Cordes, Courts, Courtois, Curtis, Cardoza, Cardoso, Crutchfield, Craddock, Cartagena.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.