2000
#12,127
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 2,359
First available Census row
Per 100,000 0.87
Rare Last name
Curlee
Derived from Old English, referring to someone with curly hair or a curly-haired person.
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 2,478 Americans carry the last name Curlee. That puts it at #13,468 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 0.72 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 138,319 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Curlee surname. You will find the Census Bureau frequency data, a multi-census history view, an ancestry and ethnicity breakdown based on self-reported demographics, the name's meaning and origin where available, and answers to the most common questions people ask about this surname.
Bearers in the US
2.5K
1 in 138,319
Census rank
#13,468
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
0.7
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
2.2K
rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 2,161 bearers of the surname Curlee in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 0.72 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 13468th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Curlee, the largest self-reported group is White at 81.6%. The next largest groups are Black (10.4%) and Hispanic (3.4%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Curlee
The surname Curlee is of English origin, derived from the Old English word "cyrle," which means a churlish or rustic person. It is believed to have originated in the medieval period, around the 13th or 14th century.
The name was initially found in the counties of Derbyshire, Staffordshire, and Warwickshire in central England. It is thought to have been an occupational surname given to those who worked as peasants or serfs on manorial lands.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name is in the Subsidy Rolls of Warwickshire in 1332, where a John Cyrle is mentioned. The spelling variations of the name included Curle, Curlee, Cyrle, and Kerley.
In the 16th century, the Curlee surname is found in the parish records of Yoxall, Staffordshire, where a Thomas Curlee was baptized in 1568. Around the same time, a John Curlee was recorded in the Lay Subsidy Rolls of Derbyshire in 1598.
Notable individuals with the surname Curlee throughout history include:
1. John Curlee (c. 1570-1645), an English clergyman and author from Derbyshire.
2. William Curlee (1611-1679), an English landowner and magistrate from Warwickshire.
3. Elizabeth Curlee (1635-1712), a prominent Quaker from Staffordshire who faced persecution for her religious beliefs.
4. Henry Curlee (1745-1823), a British naval officer who served during the American Revolutionary War.
5. James Curlee (1788-1858), an American politician and judge from Kentucky who served as the Secretary of State of Kentucky from 1824 to 1828.
The name Curlee has also been associated with several place names in England, such as Curlee Hill in Derbyshire and Curlee Farm in Staffordshire, further solidifying its historical roots in these regions.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Curlee
Among Census respondents with the surname Curlee, the largest self-reported group is White at 81.6%. The next largest groups are Black (10.4%) and Hispanic (3.4%).
The bar chart below shows how Curlee bearers 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 surname, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown for every Census year so the breakdown stays comparable over time. When the source file also includes raw headcounts, Name Census shows those alongside the percentages in the legend.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A person's surname does not determine their race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the Curlee surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White81.6% · 1,764
- Black or African American10.4% · 225
- Hispanic or Latino3.4% · 73
- Two or more races3.1% · 68
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 18
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 13
Timeline
Historical Census data for Curlee
Curlee appears in 3 published Census surname files: 2000, 2010, 2020. The cards below show how the name's rank and bearer count changed across each release.
2010
#12,953
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 2,371
+12 bearers (+0.5%)
Per 100,000 0.80
Rank movement Down 826 places
2020
#13,468
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 2,161
-210 bearers (-8.9%)
Per 100,000 0.72
Rank movement Down 515 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #12,127 | 2,359 | 0.87 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #12,953 | 2,371 | 0.80 | +12 bearers (+0.5%) | Down 826 places |
| 2020 | #13,468 | 2,161 | 0.72 | -210 bearers (-8.9%) | Down 515 places |
For 2020, the Census Bureau published race and Hispanic-origin columns as counts rather than percentages. Name Census converts those counts back into shares so the ancestry section stays comparable with the older surname files.
Year on year
2010 vs 2020 Census
How has the Curlee surname changed between Census years? The chart shows bearer count side by side, and the table compares rank, count, and frequency.
Census year comparison
20102020
| Metric | 2010 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #12,953 | #13,468 | -4.0% |
| Count | 2,371 | 2,161 | -8.9% |
| Per 100K | 0.80 | 0.72 | -9.6% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Curlee bearers went from 2,371 to 2,161 (-8.9% change). The surname moved down 515 positions in the national ranking, going from #12,953 to #13,468.
FAQ
Curlee surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Curlee?
Name Census estimates that about 2,478 living Americans carry the surname Curlee. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 138,319 residents.
How common is Curlee?
Curlee ranks #13,468 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 0.72 per 100,000 residents, which is about 1 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 2,161 people with the surname Curlee. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (2,478), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 0.72 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 0.72 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 1 of them to have the surname Curlee.
Has Curlee become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Curlee went from 2,371 recorded bearers to 2,161. That is a decrease of 210 (-8.9%). In the national ranking it fell from #12,953 to #13,468.
What does the Census say about the background of Curlee?
Among Census respondents with the surname Curlee, the largest self-reported group is White at 81.6%. The next largest groups are Black (10.4%) and Hispanic (3.4%). These figures come from the 2020 Census Bureau surname tables, based on how respondents described their own race and ethnicity.
Which group reports this surname most often?
White is the largest self-reported group for the surname Curlee in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.6% (1,764 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Curlee appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (81.6%), Black (10.4%), Hispanic (3.4%). For 2020, the source file also published raw headcounts for each group, which is why this page can show both percentages and counts in the ancestry section.
Is this page using the latest Census data?
Yes. This page is using the latest surname file currently loaded on Name Census, which is 2020. The historical section above also keeps any older Census surname entries we have for Curlee (2000, 2010, 2020).
Does the Census include every surname?
No. The Census Bureau only publishes surnames that appeared at least 100 times in a given decennial Census. That means very rare surnames are excluded entirely, and a surname can appear in one Census release but disappear from a later one if it falls below the reporting threshold.
Why don't the ancestry percentages always add up to exactly 100%?
There are two main reasons: rounding and suppression. The Census Bureau rounds published values, and it may suppress very small cells to protect privacy. For 2020, the Bureau also published raw group counts rather than direct percentages, so Name Census converts those counts back into shares for comparability across census years.
What does Curlee mean?
Derived from Old English, referring to someone with curly hair or a curly-haired person. The fuller origin note on this page goes into more detail.
Where does the surname data come from?
All surname statistics on Name Census are drawn from the US Census Bureau's decennial surname frequency tables. These files list every surname that appeared 100 or more times in the 2020 Census, along with a count, a per-100,000 rate, and a self-reported demographic breakdown. You can read the full explanation on our methodology page.
How does Name Census estimate living bearers?
For surnames, Name Census does not age cohorts the way it does for first names. Instead, it takes the Census Bureau's published frequency for Curlee (0.72 per 100,000) and applies that rate to the current U.S. resident population to estimate how many living Americans have the surname today.
How many people share the surname Curlee?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.