Jai Courtney
Courtney in 2014, photo by Prphotos
Birth Name: Jai Stephen Courtney
Place of Birth: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Date of Birth: 15 March, 1986
Ethnicity: British Isles, one quarter Italian
Jai Courtney is an Australian actor and model.
He is the son of Karen and Chris Courtney. Jai has said, “My [paternal] grandmother’s Italian and I grew up eating pasta several times a week.” Jai’s surname can be English or Irish.
He was named after the character “Jai” from a 1960s television series version of Tarzan.
Anyone want to drill down to see if we can define this “British Isles” ancestry? Doing a little research on the surname Courtney, it seems that it’s either an old Norman French-in-England surname or an Anglicization of the Irish name “O’Curnain.” So either English or Irish.
If anyone can find his grandparents, that would be great.
I have an inkling that his paternal grandparents were Ronald Victor Newell-Courtney and Mary Rando. They married in 1956, and Jai’s father was born in 1957. His father’s name is Christopher Paul Courtney, and there’s a Christopher Paul Newell-Courtney appearing on the Australian electoral rolls on ancestry.com.
Ronald’s parents were Gordon Edward Newell-Courtney and Marjorie Rae. Gordon’s parents were George Courtney and Ellen. According to The AIF Project, Gordon was a Roman Catholic, so it’s possible (but not necessarily) that he was Irish. Marjorie was of Scottish and English descent, her parents being James Hastie Rae and Jessie Mary Tribe.
Brilliant. Never heard AIF project before. Your find seem consistent with what he claimed, being Rando a common Italian surname.
Both of these are about Mary Rando:
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58396175/the-sydney-morning-herald/
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58404289/the-sydney-morning-herald/
Her parents are Nunziata Paino and likely Stefano Rando. Mary is of Sicilian descent.
I suspect Mary Rando’s parents may be from Lipari/Aeolian Islands, where their parents’ surnames peak. Natalie Imbruglia father’s family is from Lipari.
Excellent research. So it appears his paternal grandmother was entirely of Italian heritage, making him 25%. And his paternal grandfather’s heritage is based in the British Isles, and certainly Scottish and English.
Kind of bet his mother’s family is probably entirely of British Isles heritage, too, like most Australians.
I thought he was an Serbian-Aussie.
Ah, yes. The famous Serbian Courtney family. They ruled Serbia during the Martian Raids of 1889.
“My [paternal] grandmother’s Italian and I grew up eating pasta several times a week.”
http://www.celebrity-gossip.net/magazines/jai-courtney-mens-health-australia-may-2014-im-not-trying-be-next-dwayne-rock-johnson-1118
Thank you.
his parents are Chris Courtney and Karen. The surname can be Irish too.