Curtis

This article is about the human name. For other uses, see Curtis (disambiguation).
Curtis
Pronunciation/ˈkɜːtɪs/
Italian: [ˈkurtis]
GenderMale
Language(s)1. English
2. Italian
Origin
Language(s)1. Anglo-Norman
2. Latin
Word/name1. curteis
2. curtī
Meaning1. polite, courteous, well-bred
2. short
Other names
Related namesKertész, Kurt, Cortez, Carson

Curtis or Curtiss is a common English given name and surname of Anglo-Norman origin, deriving from the Old French curteis (Modern French courtois) which was in turn derived from Latin cohors. Nicknames include Curt, Curty and Curtie.

The name means "polite, courteous, or well-bred".[1] It is a compound of curt- "court" and -eis "-ish".[2] The spelling u to render [u] in Old French was mainly Anglo-Norman and Norman, when the spelling o [u] was the usual Parisian French one, Modern French ou [u]. -eis is the Old French suffix for -ois, Western French (including Anglo-Norman) keeps -eis, simplified to -is in English. The word court shares the same etymology but retains a Modern French spelling, after the orthography had changed.[3]

It was brought to England (and subsequently, the rest of the Isles) via the Norman Conquest. In the United Kingdom, the name Curtis was at its height in 1996, when it was the 78th most popular boy's name in England and Wales.[citation needed] Curtis was the 72nd most popular boy's name in 1963 in the United States,[citation needed] but has declined in popularity there since.[citation needed] Many Hungarian immigrants in English-speaking countries with the last name Kertész have adopted the name Curtis, since it is pronounced similarly and helped them integrate into their new community.

Curtis or De Curtis is also a rare Italian surname (from Latin curtus), meaning "short".

  1. ^ Reaney, Percy Hide; Wilson, Richard Middlewood (1991). A Dictionary of English Surnames (3 ed.). New York: Routledge. p. 121. ISBN 0-415-05737-X.
  2. ^ "Etymologie de Courtois". CNRTL (in French). 2012. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
  3. ^ Hoad, Terry F., ed. (1993). The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. Oxford paperback reference. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 101a. ISBN 0-19-283098-8.