Coutney
Feminine name from the French word "courtoise", meaning courtly or courteous.
Name Census estimates that about 73 living Americans carry the first name Coutney. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Coutney today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Coutney births was 1988 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Coutney. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Coutney. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
73
~ 1 in 4,695,265 Americans
Peak year
1988
14 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2000 SSA rank
#15,575
Tracked since 1979
Census
Coutney in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 258 people with the first name Coutney, which placed it at #32,555 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
#32,555
National first-name rank
People counted
258
258 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
72.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Coutney
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Coutney is White at 72.1%. The next largest groups are Black (22.5%) and Two or More Races (2.7%). 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 Coutney 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 Coutney at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White72.1% · 186
- Black or African American22.5% · 58
- Two or more races2.7% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 2
- Hispanic or Latino0.4% · 1
Popularity
Coutney: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Coutney from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 54 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Coutney 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 Coutney 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 Coutney
The name Courtney is of French origin, derived from the territorial name "Courtney" or "Courtenay." It is believed to have originated from the Old French words "curt" or "cort," meaning "short," and "nai," meaning "native." This suggests that the name may have initially referred to a person of short stature who was a native of a particular region.
The earliest recorded use of the name Courtney dates back to the 11th century, when it was first used as a surname for members of the noble Courtenay family in France. The Courtenay family played a significant role in the Crusades and later established themselves in England after the Norman Conquest in 1066.
One of the most notable historical figures with the name Courtney was William Courtney, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1381 to 1396. He was a prominent figure in the English church and served as a diplomat and advisor to King Richard II.
Another notable Courtney was John Courtney, born in 1280, who became the Bishop of Bath and Wells in the early 14th century. He was a renowned scholar and author of several theological works.
In the 16th century, Sir William Courtney (1553-1630) was an English politician and member of Parliament who played a significant role in the English Civil War.
Moving forward in history, Courtney Thorne-Smith (born 1957) is an American actress known for her roles in popular television shows like "Melrose Place" and "According to Jim."
Courtney Love (born 1964) is a famous American singer, songwriter, and actress, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Hole and for her marriage to Kurt Cobain, the late frontman of Nirvana.
While the name Courtney was traditionally more common as a surname, it gained popularity as a given name for both males and females in the 20th century, particularly in English-speaking countries like the United States and the United Kingdom.
People
Coutney + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Coutney 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
Coutney: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Coutney?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 73 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Coutney 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 4,695,265 US residents.
Is Coutney a common name?
We classify Coutney as "Very Rare". It ranks above 60% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 77 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Coutney most popular?
The single biggest year for Coutney was 1988, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Coutney 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 Coutney in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 258 people with the name Coutney, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #32,555 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 Coutney 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 Coutney?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Coutney leans strongly female. 225 people counted with this name were female (85.6%), compared with 38 male bearers (14.4%). 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 Coutney?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Coutney is White at 72.1%. The next largest groups are Black (22.5%) and Two or More Races (2.7%). 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 Coutney most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Coutney in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.1% (186 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 Coutney in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Coutney a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Coutney 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 Coutney still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Coutney 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 Coutney 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 have the name Coutney?
See how many people have the name Coutney on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.