Court
A masculine given name derived from the French word for courtyard.
Name Census estimates that about 293 living Americans carry the first name Court. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Court today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Court births was 1959 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Court. 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
293
~ 1 in 1,169,810 Americans
Peak year
1959
15 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,132
Tracked since 1924
Census
Court in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 630 people with the first name Court, which placed it at #17,487 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
#17,487
National first-name rank
People counted
630
630 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
82.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Court
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Court is White at 82.4%. The next largest groups are Black (7.3%) and Hispanic (5.2%). 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 Court 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 Court at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White82.4% · 519
- Black or African American7.3% · 46
- Hispanic or Latino5.2% · 33
- Two or more races3.5% · 22
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 2
Popularity
Court: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Court from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 63 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1960s peak, Court remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Court 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 Court during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Court
The name Court is an English given name derived from the Old French word "cour" or the Middle English word "court", both meaning a courtyard or the residential grounds of a sovereign or noble. It likely originated as a surname for someone who lived or worked in or near the court of a royal or aristocratic household.
The earliest known record of Court as a first name dates back to the late 16th century in England. One notable bearer was Court Peyré (1579-1645), an English Puritan minister and religious writer who was expelled from England for his nonconformist views and later emigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Another early bearer was Court Dewitt (1618-1692), a Dutch Golden Age painter known for his still life paintings of vanitas and pronkstilleven subjects. He was born in Courtrai, now part of modern-day Belgium, which may have influenced his given name.
In the 18th century, Court Baker (1722-1794) was an English lawyer and politician who served as a Member of Parliament for several constituencies. Around the same time, Court de Gebelin (1725-1784) was a French Protestant minister and author who wrote influential works on mythology and language.
Moving into the 19th century, Court Stevenson (1810-1885) was an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative from Virginia. Meanwhile, Court Mabiemama (1837-1915) was a Xhosa chief and political leader in what is now the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.
Throughout its history, the name Court has remained relatively uncommon but has been used across various cultures and regions, reflecting its origins as a name associated with nobility and the upper classes. While not as widely popular as some other names, it has endured as a unique and distinctive choice for parents seeking a name with historical significance.
People
Court + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Court 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
Court: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Court?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 293 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Court 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 1,169,810 US residents.
Is Court a common name?
We classify Court as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 333 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Court most popular?
The single biggest year for Court was 1959, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Court is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Court in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 630 people with the name Court, or 0.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,487 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 Court 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 Court?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Court leans strongly male. 503 people counted with this name were male (80.2%), compared with 124 female bearers (19.8%). 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 Court?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Court is White at 82.4%. The next largest groups are Black (7.3%) and Hispanic (5.2%). 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 Court most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Court in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.4% (519 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 Court in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Court a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Court 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 Court still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Court 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 Court 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 common is the name Court?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Court at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.