Courtney

Variant of Courtenay, an aristocratic Norman surname derived from place names in Normandy, from Latin Curtenus, a personal name from curtus (“short”).

Courtney (plural Courtneys)

1. A surname​.
   • 1593 William Shakespeare, Richard III, Act IV, Scene IV

     Sir Edward Courtney, and the haughty prelate,

     Bishop of Exeter, his brother there,

     With many moe confederates are in arms.

2. A male given name transferred from the surname.
3. A female given name popular in the 1980s and the 1990s.
   • 1985 Sue Grafton, B is for Burglar, Macmillan 2005, →ISBN, page 125

     "One girl ten, another one eight. Courtney and Ashley. I'd have named 'em something else. Sara and Diane, Patti and Jill, something like that. I don't even understand girls.

• countrey