Kurtis
Masculine · “courteous”
Kurtis is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 18,138 boys against 25 girls since 1880.
Kurtis writes Curtis with a K, and the Old French behind it is courteous — a word that named a whole medieval code of behavior before it became a surname.
How old is the name Kurtis?
Kurtis first appears in US birth records in 1934 — 91 years ago. The typical Kurtis alive today was born around 1985, making them about 40 years old. About 16,500 people named Kurtis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kurtis most popular?
Kurtis peaked in 1987, reaching #334 nationally. Today it ranks #2718, 2,384 places below that high. See the whole 1987 chart.
Where it comes from
From curteis to Kurtis
The story of Kurtis
Curteis was a common medieval English byname and became the surname Curtis. It crossed into American given-name use in the nineteenth century and rose strongly through the twentieth, reaching the top hundred. The K respelling followed the fashion of the 1960s and 1970s, and Kurtis peaked around 1979.
Meaning
courteous, refined
From the Old French curteis, 'courteous' — literally 'of the court', from curt, the court itself. It was a descriptive byname for someone of polished manners. The word carried real weight in a period when courtliness was a defined and taught system of conduct.
How the name formed
- curteis
- Curtis
- Kurtis
Related forms: Curtis · Courtois
Pronouncing Kurtis
KUR-tis
Two syllables, stress on the first. Kurtis and Curtis are said identically.
Nicknames for Kurtis
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
- 1934
- Most boys named
- 1989624 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #334reached in 1987
- Change vs 2023
- +14.6%47 in 2025, from 41
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.
Kurtis in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Curtis in English — spelling variant
- Courtois in French — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Indiana, Ohio.
Kurtiss among us
people named Kurtis are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 36,342 born in 2025 was named Kurtis
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kurtis
- #2718
- Kurtis on the 2025 chart
- #660
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kurtis went to 47 boys in 2025, but Curtis is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 279, which makes it the 660th most-given boys’ name of the year — 2,058 places above the chart.
- Curtis232
- Kurtis47
About 1 boy in 6,122 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 36,342 for Kurtis 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 Davis test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kurtis's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Davis climbed just as high around 1901, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Davis's path sketches the road Kurtis is walking now.
Kurtis 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 Kurtis is headed
Kurtis is easing off slowly — about 23% 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.
Kurtis beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kurtis 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 records a real medieval social system.
- Kurt is available as a short form that is a complete name in German.
- Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk.
- Curtis is much the commoner spelling and will be assumed.
- It is closely dated to the 1970s in this spelling.
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Kurtis
Masculine · #2718 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kurtiss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 16,500 people named Kurtis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kurtis?
- Kurtis is one of 2 recorded spellings. Curtis is the more common one — 232 births in 2025 against 47 for Kurtis.
- How popular is the name Kurtis in 2025?
- Kurtis ranks #2718 among US boy names in 2025, with 47 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kurtis?
- About 1 in every 36,342 US boys born in 2025 was named Kurtis — 47 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kurtis with classmates?
- Kurtis will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kurtis
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Einar#2718 · Sasha#2718 · Jovany#2718 · Ahsan#2718 · Xavien#2718 · Yassin#2718 · Korey#2718 · Unknown#2718
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kurtis? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kurtis and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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