Kurtz
A German surname usually coming from a nickname for someone short or brief.
The #1,476 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 12,750 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is generally explained from German kurz, meaning “short” or “brief.” In surname use, it likely began as a nickname for a short person, or more loosely for someone with a brief or clipped manner. Older sources also treat it as comparable to other German nicknames formed from common adjectives.
History
Kurtz is a well-established German surname and appears in Anglophone surname lists as a German name. Historical surname writers sometimes link it with forms meaning “short,” and the spelling Kurtz reflects older German orthography, where -tz commonly represents a /ts/ sound. In English-speaking countries it was carried by German immigrants and their descendants.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The surname is closely related to the modern German adjective kurz, as in the everyday word meaning “short.”
From the historical record
“KURTZ KURZ See Cupt in Diet. LALLEMAND (Fr.) The German [Fr. L', the ; Lat. ille + allemand, German ; see under D'Allemagne]”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)