How rare is the name Cortez?

7,237 people in the United States have the first name Cortez, about 1 in 41,734. It ranks #3,060 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

CORTEZ

#3,060

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
7,237
About
1 in 41,734
This common or more
81.5%
Who bears it

Of the 7,237 people named Cortez, 82.1% reported their origin as Black, 10.3% as Hispanic or Latino and 4.2% as two or more races. 98.4% are male. These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Cortez peaked in 1990, when 351 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18822025
Peak year
1990
Births that year
351
In 2025*
101 ▼71%
Recorded as
almost entirely male

At least 10,988 babies have been given the name since 1882. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Cortez by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1990s, when it ranked #1,411. The largest share of babies named Cortez, 34%, were born between 1981 and 1996, as millennials.

1880s#3,1215
1900s#4,9315
1910s#3,572127
1920s#4,233147
1930s#4,049129
1940s#4,641117
1950s#3,675228
1960s#3,044378
1970s#2,195819
1980s#1,5201,837
1990s#1,4112,674
2000s#2,0322,033
2010s#2,3181,854
2020s#3,431635
Before 19010%
Greatest Generation 1901–272.3%
Silent Generation 1928–451.9%
Baby boom 1946–644.4%
Generation X 1965–8010.2%
Millennials 1981–9634%
Generation Z 1997–1230%
2013 and later17.2%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Cortez is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Cortez has been most common in Missouri (4.2×), Mississippi (3.7×), and Tennessee (3.5×), and least common in Pennsylvania (0.11×).

7,933 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Cortez

#3,058 Bodhi · 7,239#3,059 Rian · 7,238#3,061 Essie · 7,235#3,062 Zechariah · 7,229

Spelled almost the same

2 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Cortez, most common first.

#43,957 Cortes · 159#49,815 Courtez · 123

Also a last name

As a last name, Cortez ranks #327 of 156,621, with 95,625 people. See Cortez as a last name

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