Court Family History

English and French: topographic name from Middle English, Old French court(e), curt ‘court’ (Latin cohors, genitive cohortis, ‘yard’, ‘enclosure’). This word was used primarily with reference to the residence of the lord of a manor, and the surname is usually an occupational name for someone employed at a manorial court. English: nickname from Old French, Middle English curt ‘short’, ‘small’ (Latin curtus ‘curtailed’, ‘truncated’, ‘cut short’, ‘broken off’). Irish: reduced form of McCourt.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press