Kort
Masculine · “Germanic kuoni and rad”
German Rat means counsel, and it is the second half of Konrad, bold counsel. It is still an ordinary word: a Rathaus is a council house, not what English readers assume, and a Ratgeber is an adviser. Kort is what remains of Konrad after Dutch and Low German finished with it.
How old is the name Kort?
Kort first appears in US birth records in 1947 — 78 years ago. The typical Kort alive today was born around 2003, making them about 22 years old. About 500 people named Kort are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kort most popular?
Kort peaked in 1958, reaching #2818 nationally. Today it ranks #8910, 6,092 places below that high. See the whole 1958 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From kuonrad to Kort
The story of Kort
The rad element is one of the most common in Germanic naming and it has kept its meaning in the living language, which is unusual. Konrad is bold counsel. Ratbod, Radbert and Radulf all begin with it, and Konrad's Dutch form Koenraad shows the two halves clearly. Modern German still uses Rat for advice and for a council, so the Rathaus is where the council sits, the Stadtrat is the city council, and a Ratschlag is a piece of advice. English lost the noun entirely but kept the verb in read, which originally meant to advise or interpret, a sense preserved in the name Ethelred, noble counsel, and in the phrase to read someone a lesson. Conrad also produced the English word for a rogue by an odd route, since Konrad was a stock name for a peasant in German farce.
Meaningscholars disagree
Germanic kuoni and rad, bold counsel
Kort is a Dutch and Low German short form of Koenraad or Konrad, from Germanic kuoni, bold or experienced, and rad, counsel or advice. The same word survives as modern German Rat, counsel. Dutch kort separately means short, and the surname may come from that in some families. The American peak is 1958.
How the name formed
- kuonrad
- Koenraad
- Kort
Related forms: Koenraad · Konrad · Conrad
Pronouncing Kort
KORT
One syllable. It is a homophone of the English words court and caught for many speakers, and of Dutch kort, short.
Nicknames for Kort
Limited
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
- 1947
- Most boys named
- 200622 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2818reached in 1958
- Change vs 2024
- +33.3%8 in 2025, 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.
Kort in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Koenraad in Dutch — related form
- Konrad in German — related form
- Conrad in English — related form
Korts among us
people named Kort are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 213,510 born in 2025 was named Kort
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kort
- #8910
- Kort on the 2025 chart
- #906
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kort went to 8 boys in 2025, but Cort is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 22, which makes it the 906th most-given boys’ name of the year — 8,004 places above the chart.
- Cort14
- Kort8
About 1 boy in 77,640 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 213,510 for Kort 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 Arsen test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kort's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Arsen climbed just as high around 1913, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Arsen's path sketches the road Kort is walking now.
Kort 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
Kort beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kort in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable and four letters, as short as a name gets.
- Conrad is available as the full form.
- There is no possible mispronunciation.
- It is a homophone of the English word court.
- Dutch speakers will read it as the adjective short.
- It reads as a clipping rather than a full name.
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Kort
Masculine · #8910 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Korts are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Kort are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kort?
- Kort is one of 2 recorded spellings. Cort is the more common one — 14 births in 2025 against 8 for Kort.
- How popular is the name Kort in 2025?
- Kort ranks #8910 among US boy names in 2025, with 8 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kort?
- About 1 in every 213,510 US boys born in 2025 was named Kort — 8 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kort with classmates?
- Kort will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kort
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Davie#8910 · Ned#8910 · Darious#8910 · Alois#8910 · Len#8910 · Barton#8910 · Desmon#8910 · Winfield#8910
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kort? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kort and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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