Courtney

Where Courtney comes from

Variant of Courtenay, an aristocratic Norman surname derived from place names in Normandy, from Latin Curtenus, a personal name from curtus (“short”).
— Wiktionary's entry for Courtney
  • 2 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Courtney through the years
  1. 1881
    First appearance
    #740 among girls with 6 babies, the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1962
    Mostly girls from here
    Until now more boys than girls got the name. From this year on, more girls have.
  3. 1964
    Courtney Love born
    American rock musician
  4. 1967
    Courtney Thorne-Smith born
    American actress
  5. 1990
    Peak, #17
    15,380 babies named Courtney, the most in any year.
  6. 1998
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births, down to #39.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name transferred from the surname.
  • A female given name transferred from the surname, popular in the 1980s and the 1990s.
  • A place in the United States:
  • An unincorporated community in South Liberty Township, Yadkin County, North Carolina.
Namesakes
  • Courtney Love · American rock musician, born 1964
  • Courtney Thorne-Smith · American actress, born 1967
  • Courtney B. Vance · American actor, born 1960
  • Courtney Barnett · Australian singer-songwriter and rock guitarist, born 1987
  • Courtney Eaton · Australian actress and model, born 1996

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.