Cortez
Masculine · “courteous”
Cortez is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 10,899 boys against 89 girls since 1880.
Cortez is a Spanish surname meaning courteous, and it belongs to the conquistador who destroyed the Aztec empire — which is a great deal to carry in seven letters.
How old is the name Cortez?
Cortez first appears in US birth records in 1882 — 143 years ago. The typical Cortez alive today was born around 1995, making them about 30 years old. About 10,000 people named Cortez are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Cortez most popular?
Cortez peaked in 1990, reaching #532 nationally. Today it ranks #1654, 1,122 places below that high. See the whole 1990 chart.
Cortez appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From corte to Cortez
The story of Cortez
Hernán Cortés landed in Mexico in 1519 and by 1521 had brought down Tenochtitlan. The surname is common across the Spanish-speaking world quite independently of him. Its American given-name use is twentieth-century, and Cortez appears in the registers steadily, more often among African-American families than Hispanic ones. It is in current use.
Meaning
courteous, courtly
From the Spanish cortés, 'courteous' or 'polite', from corte, 'court' — a descriptive byname for someone of refined manners. The word is ordinary Spanish and the meaning undisputed. The z spelling is an older variant of the s and is now the commoner surname form.
How the name formed
- corte
- cortés
- Cortez
Related forms: Cortés · Cortez · Curtis
Pronouncing Cortez
kor-TEZ
Two syllables, stress on the second. Spanish Cortés places the accent the same way.
Nicknames for Cortez
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1882
- Most boys named
- 1990346 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #532reached in 1990
- Change vs 2023
- +20.2%101 in 2025, from 84
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Cortez in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Cortés in Spanish — spelling variant
- Cortez in Portuguese — same name
- Curtis in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Michigan, Georgia.
Cortezs among us
people named Cortez are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 16,912 born in 2025 was named Cortez
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Cortez
- #1654
- Cortez on the 2025 chart
- #813
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Cortez went to 101 boys in 2025, but Kortez is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 115, which makes it the 813th most-given boys’ name of the year — 841 places above the chart.
- Cortez101
- Kortez14
About 1 boy in 14,853 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 16,912 for Cortez itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Sherwood test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Cortez's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Sherwood climbed just as high around 1938, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Sherwood's path sketches the road Cortez is walking now.
Cortez sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Cortez is headed
Cortez is easing off slowly — about 25% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Cortez beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Cortez in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The courteous meaning is transparent and shares a root with the English Curtis.
- The end stress gives it a strong rhythm against a front-stressed surname.
- Two firm syllables that carry well.
- The conquistador association is strong and, for many, a difficult one.
- Cortés with an s is the standard Spanish spelling.
- It reads as a surname before it reads as a given name.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Cortez to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Cortez? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Cortez
Masculine · #1654 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Cortezs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 10,000 people named Cortez are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Cortez?
- Cortez is the most-used spelling in US records — 101 of the 115 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Kortez.
- How popular is the name Cortez in 2025?
- Cortez ranks #1654 among US boy names in 2025, with 101 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Cortez?
- About 1 in every 16,912 US boys born in 2025 was named Cortez — 101 in all.
- Will my child share the name Cortez with classmates?
- Cortez will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Cortez
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Bennet#1654 · Sky#1654 · Johnpaul#1654 · Kycen#1654 · Ervin#1654 · Kent#1654 · Truth#1654 · Jakobi#1654
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Cortez? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Cortez and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle