Given name & surname
Curley
“having great strength”
Curley is used as a given name and a surname. One English interpretation is “having great strength.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
One English interpretation is “having great strength.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is English.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1881. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Curley through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 3,124
- 2,590 boys · 534 girls
- Most popular year
- 1944
- 83 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
Boys, girls and both
The balance of boys and girls given this name has shifted over time. Recent births are 83% boys.
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 5 in 2003. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for boys was 68 in 1944. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 1,035 as a first name in 2020; 11,610 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Curley’s family of names
Curley has a related form in Curlie. Curley has a related form in Curly. Curley has a related form in Curlee.
Inner ring: spellings · outer: nicknames and forms.
Nicknames & forms 9
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
- Curleevariant
- Curlievariant
- Curlyvariant
- Kearleyvariant · English
- Mccurleyvariant · English
- Kerleyvariant · English
- Curleavariant
- Curleighvariant
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Spellings & scripts 1
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
People named Curley
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Curley, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Carnell
“the defender of the castle”
>99% boys
Lowry
“a great leader”
63% boys · 37% girls
Sherwood
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Kimball
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Kennard
“of the brave or royal guard”
>99% boys
Burleigh
“from the meadow of knotted wood”
>99% boys
Woody
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>99% boys
Verlyn
“from the alder-tree grove” · “a vivacious woman”
75% boys · 25% girls