Curtin
An Irish surname most often understood as a shortened form of an old Gaelic patronymic, with Manx cognates and a possible link to a nickname meaning “hunchback” or “crooked.”
The #3,725 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 32,455 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Curtin is usually treated as an anglicized Irish surname from a Gaelic patronymic, with forms such as Mac Curtain / Mac Cruitín behind it. The Gaelic element cruitín is commonly taken as a diminutive of cruit, meaning “hump,” “hunch,” or by extension a “crooked” shape, so the name may originally have been nickname-based. Some 19th-century authorities also connect the surname with Manx forms such as Corteen, showing the same older Gaelic root and a later shift in spelling and pronunciation.
History
The surname is well attested in Ireland, especially in Munster, and the historical records cited here place many Curtins in counties such as Cork, Limerick, Clare, and Kerry. In Manx material, Moore records Curtin/Corteen as a parish-centered name in Maughold and explains it as coming from Mac Cruitin by metathesis. The name therefore appears in both Irish and Manx traditions, with closely related spellings and regional clustering.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Manx scholar A. W. Moore specifically says the surname became Corteen through metathesis, a fancy word for sounds swapping places in a name.
From the historical record
“Garvie Curtin Gakey Clullich”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom