Kortney
A feminine variant of the masculine name "Courtney", derived from an English surname.
Name Census estimates that about 5,530 living Americans carry the first name Kortney. It is a predominantly female name (92.4% of registrations). The average person named Kortney today is around 33 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kortney births was 1990 (335 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kortney. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Kortney with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
5.5K
~ 1 in 61,981 Americans
Peak year
1990
335 babies that year
Average age
33
years old
2013 SSA rank
#13,210
Tracked since 1966
Census
Kortney in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,929 people with the first name Kortney, which placed it at #3,956 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#3,956
National first-name rank
People counted
4.9K
4,929 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kortney
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kortney is White at 74.2%. The next largest groups are Black (16.9%) and Two or More Races (4.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Kortney described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Kortney at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.2% · 3,657
- Black or African American16.9% · 835
- Two or more races4.4% · 215
- Hispanic or Latino3.0% · 147
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 43
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 32
Gender
Gender distribution for Kortney
Kortney leans heavily female at 92.4% of total registrations, but 436 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Kortney as a male name
- Ranked #13,210 in 2013
- 5 male births in 2013
- Peak: 1978 (25 births)
Kortney as a female name
- Ranked #16,472 in 2023
- 5 female births in 2023
- Peak: 1990 (316 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kortney leans strongly female. 4,582 people counted with this name were female (93.1%), compared with 342 male bearers (6.9%).
Popularity
Kortney: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kortney from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 2,603 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kortney by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Kortney during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kortneys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 37 states and territories. California, Texas, Ohio recorded the most babies named Kortney, while Oregon, Massachusetts, Hawaii recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 87 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kortney
The name Kortney is a modern variant of the ancient Germanic name Curtnius or Courtney, which is derived from the Old French word "courtois," meaning "courtly" or "polite." The name's origins can be traced back to the Middle Ages, when it was commonly used in England and France.
In the 11th century, the name Courtney was first recorded in the Domesday Book, a survey of English landowners commissioned by William the Conqueror. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Reginald de Courtenay, a Norman nobleman who accompanied William the Conqueror during the Norman conquest of England in 1066.
The name Courtney gained prominence in the 12th and 13th centuries, with several notable individuals bearing the name. One of the most famous was William de Courtenay, who served as Archbishop of Canterbury from 1381 to 1396. Another notable figure was Peter of Courtenay, who was elected as the Latin Emperor of Constantinople in 1216.
During the Renaissance period, the name Courtney was associated with literary figures and intellectuals. One notable example is Edward Courtenay, Earl of Devon (1526-1556), who was a patron of the arts and a supporter of the Protestant Reformation in England.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, the name Courtney continued to be used among the English nobility and gentry. One prominent individual was Sir William Courtenay (1628-1702), an English politician and member of Parliament who supported the Glorious Revolution of 1688.
As the name evolved over time, various spellings emerged, including Kortney, Courtnie, and Courtny. These modern variants became popular in the late 20th century, particularly in English-speaking countries like the United States and Canada.
In terms of notable individuals with the name Kortney, one prominent figure is Kortney Ryan Zizique (born 1978), an American filmmaker and visual artist. Another is Kortney Olson (born 1976), an American athlete and Olympic gold medalist in the sport of curling.
Other individuals with the name Kortney include Kortney Hause (born 1995), an English professional footballer, and Kortney Clemons (born 1987), an American actress and dancer. Additionally, Kortney Vance (born 1986) is an American professional basketball player.
People
Kortney + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kortney as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Kortney: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kortney?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,530 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kortney going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 61,981 US residents.
Is Kortney a common name?
We classify Kortney as "Rare". It ranks above 96.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,749 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kortney most popular?
The single biggest year for Kortney was 1990, when 335 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kortney is about 33 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kortney in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,929 people with the name Kortney, or 1.63 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,956 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Kortney in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Kortney?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kortney leans strongly female. 4,582 people counted with this name were female (93.1%), compared with 342 male bearers (6.9%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Kortney?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kortney is White at 74.2%. The next largest groups are Black (16.9%) and Two or More Races (4.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Kortney most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kortney in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.2% (3,657 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Kortney in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kortney a female name?
Yes, 92.4% of people registered as Kortney in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Kortney still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kortney in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Kortney can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Kortney?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.