Cort
A short form of Courtney, a masculine English name meaning "terrain belonging to a nobleman".
Name Census estimates that about 1,772 living Americans carry the first name Cort. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Cort today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cort births was 2011 (57 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cort. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
1.8K
~ 1 in 193,428 Americans
Peak year
2011
57 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,688
Tracked since 1915
Census
Cort in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,720 people with the first name Cort, which placed it at #8,431 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#8,431
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,720 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
90.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cort
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cort is White at 90.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.1%) and Hispanic (2.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Cort described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Cort at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White90.3% · 1,554
- Two or more races3.1% · 53
- Hispanic or Latino2.6% · 45
- Black or African American2.4% · 41
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 18
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 9
Popularity
Cort: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cort from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 446 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cort by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Cort during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Corts live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. Texas, California, Louisiana recorded the most babies named Cort, while Washington, Ohio, Colorado recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 29 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Cort
The name Cort is derived from the Old French word "court", which means "short" or "brief". It emerged as a given name during the Middle Ages, primarily in regions of France and neighboring areas where the Old French language was spoken.
During the medieval period, the name Cort was often used as a nickname or shortened form of longer names containing the root "court", such as Courtois or Courtney. It was particularly popular among the French nobility and upper classes, where shorter names were favored for their brevity and ease of use.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Cort can be found in the 13th-century French epic poem "Le Roman de la Rose", where a character named Cort appears. This literary reference suggests that the name was already in use by that time.
In the 14th century, a notable figure named Cort van Zierikzee was a Dutch navigator and explorer. He is credited with leading one of the earliest European expeditions to the Arctic regions, laying the groundwork for future exploration in the area.
Another historical figure bearing the name Cort was Cort Sivertsen (1573-1633), a Norwegian naval officer and explorer. He is known for his expeditions to the Arctic regions, including the discovery of the Svalbard archipelago in 1604.
Cort Adler (1638-1675) was a German composer and organist who made significant contributions to the development of the Baroque style of music. His works, including organ compositions and sacred vocal pieces, were highly regarded during his lifetime and influenced later composers.
Cort van der Linden (1846-1935) was a Dutch painter and etcher known for his landscapes and cityscapes. He was a prominent figure in the Hague School, a group of artists who sought to capture the essence of Dutch life and landscapes with a naturalistic approach.
Cort Muters (1888-1959) was a Dutch sculptor and artist who worked primarily in the Art Deco style. His works, which included architectural sculptures, fountains, and public monuments, can be found in various cities across the Netherlands and other parts of Europe.
While the name Cort has its roots in Old French and was particularly popular in medieval Europe, it has since spread to other regions and cultures, albeit with lesser frequency. It remains a unique and distinctive given name with a rich historical background.
People
Cort + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cort as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Cort: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cort?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,772 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cort going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 193,428 US residents.
Is Cort a common name?
We classify Cort as "Rare". It ranks above 93.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,904 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cort most popular?
The single biggest year for Cort was 2011, when 57 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cort is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cort in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,720 people with the name Cort, or 0.57 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,431 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Cort in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Cort?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cort leans strongly male. 1,691 people counted with this name were male (98.5%), compared with 25 female bearers (1.5%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Cort?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cort is White at 90.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.1%) and Hispanic (2.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Cort most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Cort in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.3% (1,554 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Cort in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cort a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Cort in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Cort still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cort in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Cort can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Cort?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.