Curtis

Curtis is a surname and given name of English origin. The surname is derived from the medieval given name Curtis, which itself comes from the Old French curteis, meaning courteous. As a given name, Curtis became common in the English-speaking world in the 19th and 20th centuries.

In use as a surname or given name, Curtis has been borne by a wide range of people across politics, the arts, and sports, and has numerous spelling variants.

Places and institutions named Curtis include Curtis, Nebraska, a small city in Frontier County; Curtis Bay, a neighborhood in Baltimore, Maryland; and the Curtis Institute of Music, a renowned conservatory in Philadelphia established in 1924 with endowment from Mary Louise Curtis Bok.

Other notable uses include the Curtis Act of 1898, which extended the allotment and dissolution of tribal governments in Indian Territory, and the Curtis Publishing Company, an American publishing house founded by Cyrus H. Curtis that published Ladies' Home Journal and The Saturday Evening Post. The Curtis surname also appears in various geographic features, schools, and corporations around the world.