Jordan (name)

Jordan is used as a given name as well as surname for people, with its origins in the name of the Jordan River, which also gave its name to the country, Jordan. There are also other rivers named after the original river.

The form found in Western names originates from the Hebrew ירדן‎ Yarden, meaning "to go down", relating to the Jordan River flowing into Dead Sea.[1]

According to the New Testament of the Bible, John the Baptist baptised Jesus Christ in the River Jordan,[2] and during the Crusades, crusaders and pilgrims would bring back some of the river water in containers to use in the baptism of their own children in Europe and Britain. It thus became popular as a first name.[1] The Germanic name Jordanes, which was the name of a 6th-century Gothic historian, may have popularised the name as well.[3]

The Greek form is Ἰορδάνης (Iordanes),[2] in Arabic it is Al-Urdunn, in Latin Jordanus, in Italian Giordano, in Spanish Jordán, in Portuguese Jordão, in German Jordan, in Dutch Jordaan, in French Jourdain, in Irish Iordáin or Riordan, in Romanian Iordan, and in Catalan Jordà.

The English form of the name appears to have died out after mediaeval times, but started to be used again the 19th century, becoming especially popular in the U.S. and some other countries in the latter half of the 20th century.[3]

Jordan is used as either a given name or a surname. Until the late 1970s, "Jordan" was predominantly used as a male name in the United States, but later began to gain popularity as a female name as well. As of 2006, males accounted for 72.5% of people with this name in the U.S.[4]