2000
#66,676
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 277
First available Census row
Per 100,000 0.10
Very Rare Last name
Curie
An occupational surname derived from the French word "curie" meaning "parish priest or pastor".
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 280 Americans carry the last name Curie. That puts it at #83,139 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 0.08 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 1,224,123 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Curie surname. You will find the Census Bureau frequency data, a multi-census history view, an ancestry and ethnicity breakdown based on self-reported demographics, the name's meaning and origin where available, and answers to the most common questions people ask about this surname.
Bearers in the US
280
1 in 1,224,123
Census rank
#83,139
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
0.1
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
244
very rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 244 bearers of the surname Curie in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 0.08 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 83139th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Curie, the largest self-reported group is White at 84.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.2%) and Black (4.5%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Curie
The surname Curie originates from France and dates back to the 17th century. It is derived from the Old French word "curie," which means "parish" or "cure," referring to a priest's administrative district. The name was likely given to someone who worked or lived near a parish church.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Curie can be found in the parish records of Saint-Rémy, a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department of Burgundy, France. In the late 17th century, a family with the surname Curie was documented as living in this region.
The name Curie gained significant recognition in the late 19th and early 20th centuries due to the groundbreaking contributions of Marie Curie (1867-1934), a Polish-born physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering work on radioactivity. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the first person to win the Nobel Prize twice, in Physics (1903) and Chemistry (1911).
Another notable figure with the surname Curie was Pierre Curie (1859-1906), a French physicist and Marie Curie's husband. He was a pioneer in crystallography, magnetism, and radioactivity, and he shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics with his wife and Henri Becquerel.
Irène Joliot-Curie (1897-1956), the daughter of Marie and Pierre Curie, was a French chemist and physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1935 for her work on artificial radioactivity. She was the first woman to become a professor at the University of Paris.
Frédéric Joliot-Curie (1900-1958), Irène Joliot-Curie's husband, was a French chemist and physicist who co-discovered artificial radioactivity with his wife. He was also awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1935, along with Irène.
Another notable bearer of the surname Curie was Ève Curie (1904-2007), the younger daughter of Marie and Pierre Curie. She was a writer, journalist, and pianist, and she authored a biography of her mother titled "Madame Curie" in 1937.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Curie
Among Census respondents with the surname Curie, the largest self-reported group is White at 84.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.2%) and Black (4.5%).
The bar chart below shows how Curie bearers 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 surname, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown for every Census year so the breakdown stays comparable over time. When the source file also includes raw headcounts, Name Census shows those alongside the percentages in the legend.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A person's surname does not determine their race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the Curie surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.0% · 205
- Hispanic or Latino8.2% · 20
- Black or African American4.5% · 11
- Two or more races2.5% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 1
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 1
Timeline
Historical Census data for Curie
Curie appears in 3 published Census surname files: 2000, 2010, 2020. The cards below show how the name's rank and bearer count changed across each release.
2010
#88,020
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 211
-66 bearers (-23.8%)
Per 100,000 0.07
Rank movement Down 21,344 places
2020
#83,139
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 244
+33 bearers (+15.6%)
Per 100,000 0.08
Rank movement Up 4,881 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #66,676 | 277 | 0.10 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #88,020 | 211 | 0.07 | -66 bearers (-23.8%) | Down 21,344 places |
| 2020 | #83,139 | 244 | 0.08 | +33 bearers (+15.6%) | Up 4,881 places |
For 2020, the Census Bureau published race and Hispanic-origin columns as counts rather than percentages. Name Census converts those counts back into shares so the ancestry section stays comparable with the older surname files.
Year on year
2010 vs 2020 Census
How has the Curie surname changed between Census years? The chart shows bearer count side by side, and the table compares rank, count, and frequency.
Census year comparison
20102020
| Metric | 2010 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #88,020 | #83,139 | 5.5% |
| Count | 211 | 244 | 15.6% |
| Per 100K | 0.07 | 0.08 | 16.6% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Curie bearers went from 211 to 244 (+15.6% change). The surname moved up 4,881 positions in the national ranking, going from #88,020 to #83,139.
Notable bearers
Famous people with the surname Curie
FAQ
Curie surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Curie?
Name Census estimates that about 280 living Americans carry the surname Curie. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 1,224,123 residents.
How common is Curie?
Curie ranks #83,139 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Very Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 0.08 per 100,000 residents, which is about 0 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 244 people with the surname Curie. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (280), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 0.08 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 0.08 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 0 of them to have the surname Curie.
Has Curie become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Curie went from 211 recorded bearers to 244. That is an increase of 33 (+15.6%). In the national ranking it rose from #88,020 to #83,139.
What does the Census say about the background of Curie?
Among Census respondents with the surname Curie, the largest self-reported group is White at 84.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.2%) and Black (4.5%). These figures come from the 2020 Census Bureau surname tables, based on how respondents described their own race and ethnicity.
Which group reports this surname most often?
White is the largest self-reported group for the surname Curie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.0% (205 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Curie appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (84.0%), Hispanic (8.2%), Black (4.5%). For 2020, the source file also published raw headcounts for each group, which is why this page can show both percentages and counts in the ancestry section.
Is this page using the latest Census data?
Yes. This page is using the latest surname file currently loaded on Name Census, which is 2020. The historical section above also keeps any older Census surname entries we have for Curie (2000, 2010, 2020).
Does the Census include every surname?
No. The Census Bureau only publishes surnames that appeared at least 100 times in a given decennial Census. That means very rare surnames are excluded entirely, and a surname can appear in one Census release but disappear from a later one if it falls below the reporting threshold.
Why don't the ancestry percentages always add up to exactly 100%?
There are two main reasons: rounding and suppression. The Census Bureau rounds published values, and it may suppress very small cells to protect privacy. For 2020, the Bureau also published raw group counts rather than direct percentages, so Name Census converts those counts back into shares for comparability across census years.
What does Curie mean?
An occupational surname derived from the French word "curie" meaning "parish priest or pastor". The fuller origin note on this page goes into more detail.
Where does the surname data come from?
All surname statistics on Name Census are drawn from the US Census Bureau's decennial surname frequency tables. These files list every surname that appeared 100 or more times in the 2020 Census, along with a count, a per-100,000 rate, and a self-reported demographic breakdown. You can read the full explanation on our methodology page.
How does Name Census estimate living bearers?
For surnames, Name Census does not age cohorts the way it does for first names. Instead, it takes the Census Bureau's published frequency for Curie (0.08 per 100,000) and applies that rate to the current U.S. resident population to estimate how many living Americans have the surname today.
How many people have the surname Curie?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.