Courtenay
Feminine · “From Courtenay”
Courtenay is given to both — 1,189 girls and 246 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Courtenay keeps the e that Courtney drops, and the e is the original. The name is a village in France, then a family, then an English earldom, and the modern American spelling is the worn-down one; this version is what the family itself used for six hundred years.
How old is the name Courtenay?
Courtenay first appears in US birth records in 1925 — 100 years ago. The typical Courtenay alive today was born around 1978, making them about 47 years old. About 1,100 people named Courtenay are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Courtenay most popular?
Courtenay peaked in 1966, reaching #1320 nationally. See the whole 1966 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Courtenay
Being related to the throne destroyed the English branch. The Courtenays were earls of Devon and descended from an Plantagenet daughter, which under the Tudors was a dangerous thing to be; Henry the Eighth had the marquess of Exeter executed on a treason charge that rested on very little beyond the family tree, and his son spent his entire childhood and youth in the Tower for the same reason, released only when a Catholic queen came in and imprisoned again as soon as anybody suggested marrying him to her. He died abroad at about thirty. The family survived, quietly, and still holds the earldom; the record of its most prominent members is a record of being too close to something.
Meaning
From Courtenay
A place in the Loiret, whose own name is probably built on a Roman personal name and an ending meaning an estate. The surname identifies a family that came from it. Nothing in the name describes a person, and the popular explanation involving a short nose belongs to a different name entirely.
Pronouncing Courtenay
KORT-nee
Two syllables with the stress at the front. The middle e is silent in English and always has been; French gives the name three syllables and stresses the last, which is the pronunciation the spelling was designed for.
Nicknames for Courtenay
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
- 1925
- Most girls named
- 196667 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1320reached in 1966
- Change vs 2003
- −16.7%5 in 2005, from 6
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.
Courtenay in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Courtenay in French — same name
Courtenays among us
people named Courtenay are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Courtenay sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It is the older and historically accurate spelling of a very familiar name.
- It works for a child of either sex, which the record confirms.
- The family behind it is real, documented and still in existence.
- Courtney is the standard American spelling and this one will be corrected constantly.
- The record carries it for boys as well as girls, so it signals nothing on a form.
- The silent e adds a letter that nobody hears, which makes it hard to defend in speech.
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What they receive
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Courtenay
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Courtenays are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,100 people named Courtenay are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Courtenay in 2025?
- Courtenay is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Courtenay with classmates?
- Courtenay will almost certainly be the only one in school.
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Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Courtenay? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Courtenay and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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