Jordan

Variations – Jordanson, Jordson, Jurdan, Judd, Juddson, Judson
Racial Origin – English
Source – A given name

Family names in this group are unique in that they are developments of a given name which itself originated only a trifle prior to the period which our modern family name system began to develop.

Most given names are of quite ancient origin. Exceptions are the names that were developed in the Puritan movement in England, and the entirely modern method of turning a family name into a given name.  The vast majority of the Puritan given names have disappeared, however, Jordan, while not so frequently met with today as in the Middle Ages, is still found as a given name.

The origin of this name is not so easily guessed.  One’s tendency is to attribute it to the river Jordan, and then to decide that that is not logical, and abandon the guess. The guess, however, is correct. The story of John the Baptist, involving the Jordan, apparently was one of those in the Bible which made the greatest impression on the medieval English mind.  Jud, like Jordie or Geordie, is today often used as a nickname for George, but in the middle ages it was a variation of Jordan.

In the natural course of events the family names were formed in the usual way, by the addition of the termination “son” or the prefixing of the Norman-French “Fitz,” which was a corruption of the Latin “filius” or son.  These prefixes and suffixes often have been dropped in family names at later periods.