Curtis comes from the Old French curteis and means "courteous" or "well-mannered"; it was first a nickname for a polite person, then a surname and finally a given name. Soul singer Curtis Mayfield and rapper Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson are among its best-known bearers. In the United States Curtis ranked number 265 in 2000 and has declined every year since, from number 528 in 2015 to number 985 in 2025.