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Curtis or Curtiss is a common English given name and surname of Anglo-Norman origin from the Old French curteis (Modern French courtois) which ultimately derived from the Spanish Cortés (of which Cortez is a variation) and the Portuguese and Galician Cardoso. The name means "polite, courteous, or well-bred". It is a compound of curt- "court" and -eis "-ish". 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. 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. Curtis was the 72nd most popular boy's name in 1963 in the United States, but has declined in popularity there since. 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.
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