 Courtney was used as a given name for men beginning at least as far back as the 17th century (e.g.the British Member of Parliament Sir Courtney Pool, 1677).As a given name for women, however, it gained wide acceptance only in the years following the 1956 publication of the novel "Chocolates for Breakfast" by Pamela Moore, whose protagonist Courtney Farrell sometimes wishes she had been born a man.