Courtney
A feminine name of Old French origin meaning "from the court".
Name Census estimates that about 266,155 living Americans carry the first name Courtney. It is a predominantly female name (91.8% of registrations). The average person named Courtney today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Courtney births was 1990 (16,055 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Courtney. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Courtney with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Compared to the 1990s, recent registration numbers for Courtney have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
266K
~ 1 in 1,288 Americans
Peak year
1990
16,055 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,978
Tracked since 1881
Census
Courtney in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 246,240 people with the first name Courtney, which placed it at #225 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
#225
National first-name rank
People counted
246K
246,240 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
81.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
76.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Courtney
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Courtney is White at 76.4%. The next largest groups are Black (15.0%) and Two or More Races (3.9%). 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 Courtney 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 Courtney at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White76.4% · 188,215
- Black or African American15.0% · 36,831
- Two or more races3.9% · 9,526
- Hispanic or Latino3.1% · 7,651
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 2,491
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 1,526
Gender
Gender distribution for Courtney
Courtney leans heavily female at 91.8% of total registrations, but 22,996 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Courtney as a male name
- Ranked #3,162 in 2024
- 38 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1980 (860 births)
Courtney as a female name
- Ranked #1,978 in 2024
- 99 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1990 (15,380 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Courtney leans strongly female. 229,511 people counted with this name were female (93.2%), compared with 16,724 male bearers (6.8%).
Popularity
Courtney: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Courtney from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 116,811 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Courtney 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 Courtney during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Courtneys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Texas, California, New York recorded the most babies named Courtney, while Wyoming, Alaska, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 5,375 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Courtney
The name Courtney has its origins in the French language and can be traced back to the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Old French word "courtois," meaning "courtly" or "polite." The name was initially used as a surname, particularly among the French nobility, to describe someone with refined manners and courtly behavior.
The earliest recorded use of Courtney as a given name dates back to the 12th century. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Courtney of Arras, a French trouvère (a composer and poet of secular songs) who lived in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. His works were widely celebrated during his time and contributed to the popularization of the name.
In the 13th century, the name Courtney gained prominence in England through the influential Courtney family. This noble family, originating from Devon, produced several notable figures, including Peter Courtney, who served as Bishop of Exeter and later became the Archbishop of Canterbury in the late 14th century.
Throughout history, the name Courtney has been associated with several influential individuals. One notable example is Courtney Vance, an American actor born in 1960, best known for his roles in films such as "The Preacher's Wife" and the television series "The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story," for which he won an Emmy Award.
Another famous bearer of the name is Courtney Love, an American singer, songwriter, and actress born in 1964. She gained widespread recognition as the lead vocalist of the rock band Hole and for her turbulent personal life, including her marriage to the late Kurt Cobain, the iconic frontman of Nirvana.
In the realm of sports, Courtney Walsh, a Jamaican cricketer born in 1962, made his mark as one of the greatest fast bowlers in West Indies cricket history. He held the record for the most wickets in Test cricket for several years and was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in 2010.
The name Courtney has also been associated with literary figures. Courtney Peppernell, an American poet and writer born in 1966, is known for her critically acclaimed works exploring themes of identity, race, and gender. Her poetry collections have received numerous accolades, including the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award.
Another notable bearer of the name is Courtney Milan, an American author born in 1976, renowned for her historical romance novels. Her works have garnered numerous awards and acclaim, including the prestigious RITA Award from the Romance Writers of America.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Courtney
People
Courtney + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Courtney 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
Courtney: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Courtney?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 266,155 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Courtney 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 1,288 US residents.
Is Courtney a common name?
We classify Courtney as "Common". It ranks above 99.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 281,315 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Courtney most popular?
The single biggest year for Courtney was 1990, when 16,055 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Courtney is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Courtney in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 246,240 people with the name Courtney, or 81.53 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #225 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 Courtney 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 Courtney?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Courtney leans strongly female. 229,511 people counted with this name were female (93.2%), compared with 16,724 male bearers (6.8%). 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 Courtney?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Courtney is White at 76.4%. The next largest groups are Black (15.0%) and Two or More Races (3.9%). 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 Courtney most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Courtney in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.4% (188,215 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 Courtney in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Courtney a female name?
Yes, 91.8% of people registered as Courtney in the SSA data are female. 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 Courtney still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Courtney 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 Courtney 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 called Courtney?
See how many people have the name Courtney on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.