Curtiss
Masculine · “courteous”
Curtis means having court manners. Old French curteis described someone brought up at a noble household and behaving accordingly, and it gives English courteous and courtesy — so the name is a compliment about upbringing rather than about character. The doubled s makes it look like a surname, which it also is.
How old is the name Curtiss?
Curtiss first appears in US birth records in 1896 — 129 years ago. The typical Curtiss alive today was born around 1954, making them about 71 years old. About 3,000 people named Curtiss are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Curtiss most popular?
Curtiss peaked in 1943, reaching #673 nationally. See the whole 1943 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From curteis to Curtiss
The story of Curtiss
Medieval nickname surnames were often blunt, and this one is unusually flattering: to be called Curteis was to be described as having been raised properly. It became a common English surname and then, in America, a given name — steadily used for a century and a half without ever becoming fashionable, which is a rare and rather enviable position. The doubled s belongs to the surname more than the given name and appears in American records from families who had it as both.
Meaning
courteous; refined
Old French curteis means of the court, and by extension well-mannered — the manners in question being those a court expected. English took the word as courteous and the nickname as the surname Curtis. The derivation is not disputed. A competing folk reading takes it from court hose, short stockings, on the model of Curthose, and it is not supported.
How the name formed
- curteis
- Curtis
- Curtiss
Related forms: Courtois
Pronouncing Curtiss
KUR-tiss
KUR-tiss, two syllables, stress at the front, the ending unstressed. Curtis and Curtiss are said identically; the doubled s is a spelling convention and never a lengthened sound.
Nicknames for Curtiss
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
- 1896
- Most boys named
- 1959126 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #673reached in 1943
- Change vs 2019
- −16.7%5 in 2024, 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.
Curtiss in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Courtois in French — related form
Curtisss among us
people named Curtiss 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
Curtiss 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
- The meaning is a genuine compliment with a documented medieval history.
- Curt works as a short form, though it says the opposite of the full name.
- It has been in steady American use for a century and a half without belonging to one decade.
- Curtis is the standard spelling and this will be corrected toward it constantly.
- The short form Curt is an English word meaning brusque, which is an irony a child will meet.
- With two s's the name reads as a surname on a list, which happens regularly.
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Curtiss
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Curtisss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,000 people named Curtiss are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Curtiss in 2025?
- Curtiss is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Curtiss with classmates?
- Curtiss will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More C names
The most-given names starting with C, all years combined.
Charles#48 · Christopher#68 · Carl#1132 · Christian#96 · Caleb#58 · Cameron#76 · Carlos#150 · Clarence#1499
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Curtiss? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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