Curley
Anglicized form of the Irish surname Ó Curaighín, meaning "descendant of little Curragh".
Name Census estimates that about 1,291 living Americans carry the first name Curley. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 82.9% of registrations being male. The average person named Curley today is around 68 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Curley births was 1944 (83 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Curley. 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
- • The typical person named Curley is about 68 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Curleys were born before 1968.
People living today
1.3K
~ 1 in 265,495 Americans
Peak year
1944
83 babies that year
Average age
68
years old
2003 SSA rank
#6,138
Tracked since 1881
Census
Curley in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,030 people with the first name Curley, which placed it at #12,181 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
#12,181
National first-name rank
People counted
1.0K
1,030 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
78.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Curley
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Curley is Black at 78.2%. The next largest groups are White (16.6%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (1.8%). 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 Curley 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 Curley at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American78.2% · 805
- White16.6% · 171
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 19
- Two or more races1.6% · 16
- Hispanic or Latino1.5% · 15
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Curley
Curley leans heavily male at 82.9% of total registrations, but 534 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Curley as a male name
- Ranked #11,223 in 2003
- 5 male births in 2003
- Peak: 1944 (68 births)
Curley as a female name
- Ranked #6,138 in 1964
- 6 female births in 1964
- Peak: 1919 (20 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Curley on both sides of the split. Of the 1,035 people counted with this name, 816 were male (78.8%) and 219 were female (21.2%).
Popularity
Curley: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Curley from the 1880s through to the 2000s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 577 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Curley 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 Curley during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Curleys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi recorded the most babies named Curley, while Tennessee, Florida, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 97 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Curley
The name Curley is an anglicized form of the Irish Gaelic name Curcaigh, which means "twisted" or "curly-haired." The name has its origins in medieval Ireland, where it was likely used as a descriptive nickname for someone with curly hair.
In ancient Irish texts and historical records, the name appears in various spellings, such as Curcach, Curcaigh, and Curchaigh. These variations reflect the evolution of the name over time and across different regions of Ireland.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Curley can be found in the Annals of Ulster, a chronicle of medieval Irish history compiled in the 15th century. The Annals mention an individual named Curcaigh Ua Dubhda, who was a notable figure in the year 1022.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Curley. One of the most famous was James Michael Curley (1874-1958), an American politician who served as the Mayor of Boston on multiple occasions and was a prominent figure in Massachusetts politics during the early 20th century.
Another notable Curley was Michael Joseph Curley (1879-1947), an American Roman Catholic prelate who served as the Archbishop of Baltimore and the Archbishop of Washington, D.C. He was a influential figure in the Catholic Church in the United States.
In the literary world, Charles Curley (1913-1991) was an American poet and educator who won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1973 for his collection "Fair and Unfair Witnesses."
In the realm of sports, Curley Culp (born 1946) was an American professional football player who was a defensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL) from 1968 to 1981. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2013.
Finally, Curley Twisters (1887-1963) was an American baseball player who played as a shortstop in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1909 to 1923, primarily for the Boston Red Sox.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have carried the name Curley, a name with deep roots in Irish culture and a rich historical legacy.
People
Curley + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Curley 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
Curley: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Curley?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,291 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Curley 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 265,495 US residents.
Is Curley a common name?
We classify Curley as "Rare". It ranks above 91.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,124 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Curley most popular?
The single biggest year for Curley was 1944, when 83 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Curley is about 68 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Curley in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,030 people with the name Curley, or 0.34 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,181 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 Curley 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 Curley?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Curley on both sides of the split. Of the 1,035 people counted with this name, 816 were male (78.8%) and 219 were female (21.2%). 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 Curley?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Curley is Black at 78.2%. The next largest groups are White (16.6%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (1.8%). 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 Curley most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Curley in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.2% (805 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 Curley in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Curley a male name?
Yes, 82.9% of people registered as Curley 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 Curley still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Curley 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 Curley 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 Curley?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.