Gordon (name) - Origin of The Surname

Origin of The Surname

The Scottish surname Gordon may be derived from several locations. One possibility is from Gordon, in Berwickshire. This placename is derived from the Welsh language elements gor, meaning "spacious"; and din, meaning "fort". Another possibility is from a similarly named place in Normandy. The English surname Gordon is derived from the placename of Gourdon, in Saône-et-Loire, France. This location is derived from the Gallo-Roman personal name Gordus. In Ireland, the surname Gordon is of several different origins. One origin of the surname is from the Scottish surname, which spread into Ireland in the 17th century during the plantation era; in the Irish language this name is spelt de Górdún. Also, the surname Gordon is an Anglicised form of the Irish language Mag Mhuirneacháin, which is a patronymic form of the personal name Muirneachán. This personal name is derived from the Irish language word muirneach, meaning "beloved". Another origin of the Irish name Gordon is as an Anglicised form of the Irish language surname Mórbhoirneach.

Gordon (Hebrew: גורדון‎ Russian: Гордон) is also a Jewish surname, likely derived from the city of Grodno, in Belarus.

The Spanish, and Galician surname Gordón is derived from places like-named in the Spanish and Galician languages. The Basque language Gordon is also derived from a like-named placename. Another origin for the Spanish surname is from the nickname Gordo, which is derived from the Spanish language word gordo, meaning "fat".

Read more about this topic:  Gordon (name)

Famous quotes containing the words origin of and/or origin:

    Someone had literally run to earth
    In an old cellar hole in a byroad
    The origin of all the family there.
    Thence they were sprung, so numerous a tribe
    That now not all the houses left in town
    Made shift to shelter them without the help
    Of here and there a tent in grove and orchard.
    Robert Frost (1874–1963)

    Good resolutions are useless attempts to interfere with scientific laws. Their origin is pure vanity. Their result is absolutely nil. They give us, now and then, some of those luxurious sterile emotions that have a certain charm for the weak.... They are simply cheques that men draw on a bank where they have no account.
    Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)