Kurt
Masculine · “bold counsel”
Kurt is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 85,858 boys against 196 girls since 1880.
Kurt is Konrad contracted — German shortens long names by squeezing the middle out rather than clipping the end, which is why Kurt looks nothing like the name it comes from.
How old is the name Kurt?
Kurt first appears in US birth records in 1894 — 131 years ago. The typical Kurt alive today was born around 1966, making them about 59 years old. About 71,000 people named Kurt are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kurt most popular?
Kurt peaked in 1964, reaching #109 nationally. Today it ranks #2258, 2,149 places below that high. See the whole 1964 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From kuoni + rat to Kurt
The story of Kurt
Konrad was a name of German kings and emperors from the tenth century and one of the standard German names ever since. German contracts it to Kurt and Kunz in ordinary use. German emigration brought both the long and the short form to America, where Kurt rose sharply through the 1950s and 1960s and peaked in the mid-1960s.
Meaning
bold counsel
Through Konrad, from the Germanic kuoni, 'bold' or 'brave', and rat, 'counsel' or 'advice'. Both elements are ordinary words and the compound is transparent: it describes someone whose advice is courageous, which was a real virtue in a council.
How the name formed
- kuoni + rat
- Konrad
- Kurt
Related forms: Kurt · Konrad · Curt · Corrado
Pronouncing Kurt
KURT
One syllable. Kurt and Curt are homophones in English; German gives the vowel a slightly different quality.
Nicknames for Kurt
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
- 1894
- Most boys named
- 19633,132 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #109reached in 1964
- Change vs 2023
- +8.8%62 in 2025, from 57
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.
Kurt in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kurt in German — same name
- Konrad in German — related form
- Curt in English — spelling variant
- Corrado in Italian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, New York.
Kurts among us
people named Kurt are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 27,550 born in 2025 was named Kurt
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Rudolph test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kurt's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Rudolph climbed just as high around 1927, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Rudolph's path sketches the road Kurt is walking now.
Kurt 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 Kurt is headed
Kurt should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Kurt beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kurt in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is transparent and both elements are thoroughly documented.
- A genuine German name with a documented imperial record, not an English respelling.
- One syllable, crisp, and never mispronounced.
- It is a homophone of the English adjective 'curt', which means brusque.
- It is closely dated to the 1960s and 1970s in American records.
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What they receive
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Kurt
Masculine · #2258 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kurts are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 71,000 people named Kurt are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Kurt in 2025?
- Kurt ranks #2258 among US boy names in 2025, with 62 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kurt?
- About 1 in every 27,550 US boys born in 2025 was named Kurt — 62 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kurt with classmates?
- Kurt will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kurt
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Abdallah#2258 · Damion#2258 · Rustin#2258 · Jackie#2258 · Sloan#2258 · Sahil#2258 · Clement#2258 · Genaro#2258
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kurt? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kurt and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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
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