Kurt is the German short form of Konrad, which means "bold counsel" or "brave adviser", from kuoni, brave, and rat, counsel. The novelist Kurt Vonnegut, the actor Kurt Russell and Nirvana's Kurt Cobain made it a well-known American name in the second half of the 20th century. Kurt sat at number 610 in 2000, its best year in this period, and has slipped out of the top 1000 since, ranking number 2271 in 2025.