Kurz
A German surname meaning “short,” often first applied as a nickname for a small or slight person.
The #8,504 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 79,697 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Kurz comes from the German adjective kurz, meaning “short.” The word is historically related to Old High German kurz and ultimately to Latin curtus, also meaning “cut short” or “shortened.” As a surname, it would have begun as a nickname for someone of short stature, or more generally someone seen as brief or concise in manner.
History
The surname is well established in German-speaking regions and appears in historical surname lists alongside other descriptive names. Related forms such as Kurtz reflect the same underlying word and spelling variation over time. In some cases, German surnames based on a physical or personal trait were later Latinized in scholarly or clerical contexts.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
19th-century writers sometimes treated Kurz as the German equivalent of the Latinized surname Curtius.
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] LAM BEL (Fr.) a double dim. of Lambert,”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)