Curlie
A diminutive form of the name Cora, derived from Greek meaning "maiden".
Name Census estimates that about 138 living Americans carry the first name Curlie. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 67.7% of registrations being female. The average person named Curlie today is around 78 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Curlie births was 1926 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Curlie. 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 Curlie is about 78 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Curlies were born before 1958.
People living today
138
~ 1 in 2,483,727 Americans
Peak year
1926
23 babies that year
Average age
78
years old
1970 SSA rank
#4,840
Tracked since 1900
Census
Curlie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 205 people with the first name Curlie, which placed it at #37,817 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
#37,817
National first-name rank
People counted
205
205 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
89.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Curlie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Curlie is Black at 89.3%. The next largest groups are White (6.8%) 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 Curlie 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 Curlie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American89.3% · 183
- White6.8% · 14
- Two or more races3.9% · 8
Gender
Gender distribution for Curlie
Curlie is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 532 total registrations, 172 (32.3%) were male and 360 (67.7%) were female.
Curlie as a male name
- Ranked #4,840 in 1970
- 5 male births in 1970
- Peak: 1920 (10 births)
Curlie as a female name
- Ranked #6,946 in 1964
- 5 female births in 1964
- Peak: 1926 (18 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Curlie on both sides of the split. Of the 210 people counted with this name, 91 were male (43.3%) and 119 were female (56.7%).
Popularity
Curlie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Curlie from the 1900s through to the 1970s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 133 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
Curlie 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 Curlie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Curlies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Georgia, Mississippi, Texas recorded the most babies named Curlie, while Texas, Mississippi, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 9 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Curlie
The name Curlie is believed to have originated from the Old English word "cyrlisc," which means "curl" or "curly." This term was used to describe someone with curly or wavy hair. The name can be traced back to the Anglo-Saxon period in Britain, which lasted from the 5th to the 11th century.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Curlie can be found in the Domesday Book, a manuscript record of the great survey of England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The entry mentions a landowner named Curlie who held a manor in the county of Essex.
During the Middle Ages, the name Curlie was relatively uncommon but still appeared occasionally in historical records. In the 13th century, a monk named Curlie is mentioned in the chronicles of the Cistercian abbey of Rievaulx in Yorkshire.
In the 16th century, a notable figure named Curlie Napper lived in London and was known for his involvement in the wool trade. He was a member of the Worshipful Company of Clothworkers, one of the oldest livery companies in the City of London.
Moving into the 17th century, a soldier named Curlie Pickering fought in the English Civil War. He served in the Parliamentarian army under Oliver Cromwell and is recorded as having participated in the Battle of Marston Moor in 1644.
Another noteworthy individual was Curlie Loftus, an Irish-born actor and playwright who lived in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He is best known for his performances in London's theaters and his satirical plays that commented on social and political issues of the time.
While not as widespread as some other names, Curlie has persisted throughout history, primarily in Britain and its former colonies. Its unique and distinctive sound has likely contributed to its enduring appeal, despite its relative rarity.
People
Curlie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Curlie 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
Curlie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Curlie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 138 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Curlie 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 2,483,727 US residents.
Is Curlie a common name?
We classify Curlie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 69.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 532 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Curlie most popular?
The single biggest year for Curlie was 1926, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Curlie is about 78 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Curlie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 205 people with the name Curlie, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #37,817 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 Curlie 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 Curlie?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Curlie on both sides of the split. Of the 210 people counted with this name, 91 were male (43.3%) and 119 were female (56.7%). 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 Curlie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Curlie is Black at 89.3%. The next largest groups are White (6.8%) 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 Curlie most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Curlie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.3% (183 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 Curlie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Curlie a female name?
Yes, 67.7% of people registered as Curlie 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 Curlie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Curlie 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 Curlie 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 Curlie?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.