Courtney
Courtney is given to both girls and boys: 78 girls and 38 boys were given it in 2025 (#2,335 among girls’ names and #3,140 among boys’, #3,204 among all names counting both); 281,432 Americans have been recorded with it since 1881 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026). Girls have outnumbered boys among babies named Courtney every year since 1962.
An estimated 271,000 Americans named Courtney and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (96% of everyone recorded); the median is 36 years old and half are between 30 and 42.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Courtney by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Courtney mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Courtney is “a female given name transferred from the surname, popular in the 1980s and the 1990s.” Its etymology gives the sense “short” (curtus).
Also “a male given name transferred from the surname.”
Variant of Courtenay, an aristocratic Norman surname derived from place names in Normandy, from Latin Curtenus, a personal name from curtus (“short”).
/ˈkɔː(ɹ)tni/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Courtney?
#2,335 among girls’ names, 2025
Courtney fell from #754 in 2015 to #2,335 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 0.21 to 0.05 per 1,000.
16,055 babies in 1990, the peak
Courtney peaked in 1990, when 16,055 babies were given it (15,380 girls, #17 among girls’ names). The 116 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are under 1% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 78 | #2,335 | 0.05 |
| 2024 | 99 | #1,983 | 0.06 |
| 2023 | 105 | #1,891 | 0.07 |
| 2022 | 121 | #1,721 | 0.07 |
| 2021 | 123 | #1,684 | 0.07 |
| 2020 | 157 | #1,392 | 0.10 |
| 2019 | 190 | #1,234 | 0.11 |
| 2018 | 202 | #1,187 | 0.12 |
| 2017 | 277 | #954 | 0.16 |
| 2016 | 349 | #822 | 0.20 |
Every recorded year (132)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 374 | #754 | 0.21 |
| 2014 | 419 | #679 | 0.23 |
| 2013 | 558 | #534 | 0.32 |
| 2012 | 639 | #481 | 0.36 |
| 2011 | 753 | #418 | 0.43 |
| 2010 | 900 | #354 | 0.51 |
| 2009 | 1,062 | #308 | 0.58 |
| 2008 | 1,268 | #270 | 0.67 |
| 2007 | 1,514 | #233 | 0.79 |
| 2006 | 1,835 | #191 | 1.0 |
| 2005 | 2,195 | #157 | 1.2 |
| 2004 | 2,763 | #121 | 1.5 |
| 2003 | 3,348 | #103 | 1.8 |
| 2002 | 3,580 | #88 | 2.0 |
| 2001 | 4,175 | #73 | 2.3 |
| 2000 | 5,239 | #59 | 2.9 |
| 1999 | 6,559 | #44 | 3.7 |
| 1998 | 7,555 | #39 | 4.3 |
| 1997 | 9,035 | #28 | 5.2 |
| 1996 | 11,344 | #21 | 6.5 |
| 1995 | 12,775 | #17 | 7.3 |
| 1994 | 12,020 | #22 | 6.7 |
| 1993 | 12,577 | #20 | 7.0 |
| 1992 | 12,604 | #21 | 6.8 |
| 1991 | 13,441 | #19 | 7.2 |
| 1990 | 15,380 | #17 | 8.1 |
| 1989 | 13,452 | #21 | 7.3 |
| 1988 | 12,043 | #24 | 6.8 |
| 1987 | 8,909 | #33 | 5.1 |
| 1986 | 9,122 | #35 | 5.3 |
| 1985 | 7,531 | #43 | 4.4 |
| 1984 | 7,150 | #46 | 4.2 |
| 1983 | 6,748 | #44 | 4.0 |
| 1982 | 7,100 | #43 | 4.2 |
| 1981 | 6,636 | #43 | 4.0 |
| 1980 | 5,618 | #48 | 3.4 |
| 1979 | 4,321 | #71 | 2.7 |
| 1978 | 4,031 | #68 | 2.6 |
| 1977 | 3,808 | #76 | 2.5 |
| 1976 | 3,619 | #76 | 2.5 |
| 1975 | 2,775 | #102 | 1.9 |
| 1974 | 2,336 | #124 | 1.6 |
| 1973 | 813 | #292 | 0.56 |
| 1972 | 671 | #337 | 0.44 |
| 1971 | 834 | #319 | 0.50 |
| 1970 | 783 | #334 | 0.45 |
| 1969 | 698 | #339 | 0.41 |
| 1968 | 648 | #348 | 0.40 |
| 1967 | 558 | #389 | 0.34 |
| 1966 | 372 | #482 | 0.22 |
| 1965 | 252 | #613 | 0.14 |
| 1964 | 234 | #667 | 0.12 |
| 1963 | 164 | #810 | 0.09 |
| 1962 | 150 | #863 | 0.08 |
| 1961 | 101 | #1,092 | 0.05 |
| 1960 | 62 | #1,393 | 0.03 |
| 1959 | 61 | #1,369 | 0.03 |
| 1958 | 70 | #1,265 | 0.03 |
| 1957 | 53 | #1,461 | 0.03 |
| 1956 | 35 | #1,800 | 0.02 |
| 1955 | 48 | #1,465 | 0.02 |
| 1954 | 41 | #1,587 | 0.02 |
| 1953 | 30 | #1,840 | 0.02 |
| 1952 | 35 | #1,647 | 0.02 |
| 1951 | 38 | #1,532 | 0.02 |
| 1950 | 38 | #1,501 | 0.02 |
| 1949 | 38 | #1,489 | 0.02 |
| 1948 | 45 | #1,372 | 0.03 |
| 1947 | 41 | #1,464 | 0.02 |
| 1946 | 30 | #1,626 | 0.02 |
| 1945 | 29 | #1,520 | 0.02 |
| 1944 | 32 | #1,436 | 0.02 |
| 1943 | 25 | #1,710 | 0.02 |
| 1942 | 21 | #1,873 | 0.02 |
| 1941 | 25 | #1,573 | 0.02 |
| 1940 | 16 | #2,047 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 15 | #2,140 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 16 | #2,037 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 12 | #2,472 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 11 | #2,552 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 8 | #3,209 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 13 | #2,313 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 13 | #2,389 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 14 | #2,332 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 10 | #2,961 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 15 | #2,302 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 14 | #2,453 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 17 | #2,179 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 13 | #2,644 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 16 | #2,332 | 0.01 |
| 1923 | 9 | #3,423 | 0.01 |
| 1922 | 15 | #2,410 | 0.01 |
| 1921 | 16 | #2,307 | 0.01 |
| 1920 | 22 | #1,829 | 0.02 |
| 1919 | 17 | #2,090 | 0.02 |
| 1918 | 11 | #2,860 | 0.01 |
| 1917 | 9 | #3,142 | 0.01 |
| 1916 | 18 | #1,884 | 0.02 |
| 1915 | 11 | #2,571 | 0.01 |
| 1914 | 19 | #1,496 | 0.02 |
| 1913 | 9 | #2,192 | 0.01 |
| 1912 | 9 | #2,010 | 0.02 |
| 1911 | 9 | #1,687 | 0.02 |
| 1910 | 8 | #1,807 | 0.02 |
| 1909 | 11 | #1,307 | 0.03 |
| 1906 | 6 | #1,781 | 0.02 |
| 1905 | 11 | #1,177 | 0.04 |
| 1903 | 6 | #1,641 | 0.02 |
| 1900 | 10 | #1,245 | 0.03 |
| 1899 | 8 | #1,195 | 0.03 |
| 1898 | 5 | #1,755 | 0.02 |
| 1897 | 8 | #1,185 | 0.03 |
| 1896 | 5 | #1,632 | 0.02 |
| 1895 | 8 | #1,216 | 0.03 |
| 1892 | 6 | #1,314 | 0.03 |
| 1890 | 6 | #1,241 | 0.03 |
| 1888 | 5 | #1,326 | 0.03 |
| 1887 | 6 | #1,060 | 0.04 |
| 1885 | 8 | #800 | 0.06 |
| 1883 | 7 | #761 | 0.06 |
| 1882 | 5 | #937 | 0.05 |
| 1881 | 6 | #754 | 0.07 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Courtney a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 281,432 Americans recorded as Courtney, 92% are girls and 8% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Courtney: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Courtney, and how old are they?
271,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 96% of the 281,432 Americans ever recorded as Courtney. The median Courtney alive today is 36 years old; half are between 30 and 42.
The 2020 Census counted 246,235 people named Courtney (229,511 women and girls, 16,724 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 272,135 born in the U.S. The Census count is 10% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 275 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 2,250 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 36,100 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 174,000 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 54,300 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 4,000 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Courtney born?
The states with the most babies named Courtney are Texas, California and Ohio, with 83% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 14 | #2,260 | 0.9× |
| California | 6 | #2,852 | 0.5× |
| Ohio | 5 | #1,506 | 1.1× |
| Virginia | 5 | #1,226 | 1.2× |
Where Courtney is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Courtney is most over-represented in Louisiana: since 1910 it was given 1.5 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Courtney with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 328,356 babies since 1880, Courtney is the most given (86% of them). In 2025 it was given to 116 of their 163 babies (71%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Courtney
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Courtney and names like it
- Compare Courtney and CortneyBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sCourtney peaked in 1990.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Courtney since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Courtney: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1990The year the most babies were named Courtney.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Courtney alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with CMost given first.