Kortni
A feminine variant of the name "Courtney", derived from the French surname meaning "dweller at the court".
Name Census estimates that about 1,147 living Americans carry the first name Kortni. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kortni today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kortni births was 1990 (70 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kortni. 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.
People living today
1.1K
~ 1 in 298,827 Americans
Peak year
1990
70 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2018 SSA rank
#10,217
Tracked since 1974
Census
Kortni in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,038 people with the first name Kortni, which placed it at #12,115 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
#12,115
National first-name rank
People counted
1.0K
1,038 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
68.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kortni
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kortni is White at 68.6%. The next largest groups are Black (22.0%) 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 Kortni 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 Kortni at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White68.6% · 712
- Black or African American22.0% · 228
- Two or more races4.4% · 46
- Hispanic or Latino3.5% · 36
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 11
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 5
Popularity
Kortni: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kortni from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 516 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
Kortni 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 Kortni during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kortnis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Kortni, while Maryland, Alabama, Utah recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 18 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kortni
The given name Kortni has its roots in the Old English language, originating from the Anglo-Saxon era in the 5th to 11th centuries. It is believed to have derived from the Old English word "cort," which means short or small. This name likely emerged as a descriptor for someone with a shorter stature or as a diminutive form of longer names containing the word "cort."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kortni can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, a comprehensive survey of landholdings and properties commissioned by William the Conqueror after the Norman conquest of England. The entry mentions a landowner named Kortni, suggesting the name was already in use by the late 11th century.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Kortni remained relatively uncommon but was occasionally found in various historical records and chronicles. One notable bearer of this name was Kortni of Wessex, a minor nobleman who served as a military commander during the reign of King Edward the Confessor in the 11th century.
During the Renaissance period, the name Kortni gained some popularity among the aristocracy and upper classes. A famous example from this era is Kortni de Vere, born in 1532, who was a prominent courtier and diplomat in the court of Queen Elizabeth I. Her strategic alliances and influential connections made her a powerful figure in 16th-century English politics.
In the 17th century, Kortni Winthrop, born in 1609, was a prominent Puritan colonist and the first governor of the Connecticut Colony. His leadership and advocacy for religious freedom played a significant role in shaping the early development of New England.
Another noteworthy individual was Kortni Ross, born in 1745, a Scottish explorer and naturalist who accompanied Captain James Cook on his voyages to the Pacific Ocean. Ross made significant contributions to the field of natural history and documented numerous plant and animal species during his expeditions.
During the 19th century, the name Kortni experienced a resurgence in popularity, particularly in the United States. One notable figure was Kortni Catt, born in 1859, a pioneering American women's rights activist and leader of the women's suffrage movement. Her tireless efforts and advocacy were instrumental in securing the constitutional right for women to vote in the United States.
People
Kortni + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kortni 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
Kortni: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kortni?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,147 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kortni 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 298,827 US residents.
Is Kortni a common name?
We classify Kortni as "Rare". It ranks above 91% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,189 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kortni most popular?
The single biggest year for Kortni was 1990, when 70 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kortni is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kortni in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,038 people with the name Kortni, or 0.34 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,115 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 Kortni 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 Kortni?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kortni leans strongly female. 1,029 people counted with this name were female (98.4%), compared with 17 male bearers (1.6%). 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 Kortni?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kortni is White at 68.6%. The next largest groups are Black (22.0%) 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 Kortni most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kortni in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.6% (712 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 Kortni in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kortni a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kortni 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 Kortni still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kortni 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 Kortni 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 have Kortni as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Kortni, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.