Gordon
name, noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A Gordon setter.
- 1 A Scottish habitational surname from the Celtic languages for someone from Gordon, Berwickshire.
- 2 An English habitational surname from Anglo-Norman for someone from Gourdon, France.
- 3 A habitational surname from Irish, an anglicization of de Górdún (“of Gordon (Berwickshire)”).
- 4 A surname from Irish [in turn originating as a patronymic], an adopted anglicization of Mag Mhuirneacháin (“son of Muirneachán”) (traditionally Magournahan).
- 5 A Jewish habitational surname probably for someone from Grodno, Belarus.
"Mount, vassals, couch your lances, and cry, "Gordon! Gordon for Scotland and Elizabeth!""
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- 6 A male given name transferred from the surname.
"Often he wrote good ones on casual slips and fancied them his; names like Trevellyan or Montressor or Delancey, with musical prefixes; or a good, short, beautiful, but dignified name like "Gordon Dane". He liked that one. It suggested something."
- 7 A place name:; A village in Berwickshire, Scottish Borders council area, Scotland (OS grid ref NT6443).
- 8 A place name:; A locale in Australia.; A suburb of Canberra; named for poet Adam Lindsay Gordon.
- 9 A place name:; A locale in Australia.; A suburb of Sydney in Ku-ring-gai council area, New South Wales.
- 10 A place name:; A locale in Australia.; A locality in Huon Valley council area and the Kingborough council area, southern Tasmania, Australia.
- 11 A place name:; A locale in Australia.; A river in Tasmania, Australia.
- 12 A place name:; A locale in Australia.; A town in Victoria; named for early settler George Gordon.
- 13 A place name:; A locale in Australia.; A river in Western Australia, Australia; named for British statesman George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen.
- 14 A place name:; A locale in the United States:; A town in Houston County, Alabama.
- 15 A place name:; A locale in the United States:; A city in Wilkinson County, Georgia; named for railroad official William Washington Gordon.
- 16 A place name:; A locale in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Crawford County, Illinois.
- 17 A place name:; A locale in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Butler County, Kansas.
- 18 A place name:; A locale in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Letcher County, Kentucky.
- 19 A place name:; A locale in the United States:; A township in Todd County, Minnesota.
- 20 A place name:; A locale in the United States:; A city in Sheridan County, Nebraska; named for early settler John Gordon.
- 21 A place name:; A locale in the United States:; A village in Darke County, Ohio; named for an early settler.
- 22 A place name:; A locale in the United States:; A borough in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania; named for judge David F. Gordon.
- 23 A place name:; A locale in the United States:; A minor city in Palo Pinto County, Texas.
- 24 A place name:; A locale in the United States:; A town in Ashland County, Wisconsin; named for fur trader Antoine Guerdon.
- 25 A place name:; A locale in the United States:; A town and census-designated place therein, in Douglas County, Wisconsin.
Example
More examples"Gordon is interested in the Japanese way of life."
Etymology
The main etymology, associated with Celtic names, is from the Scots surname Gordon, from a place name, but the origin is debated: * If the English or Scots name is from a Brythonic language (such as Old Welsh or Old Breton), then possibly from a Proto-Brythonic compound such as *gor (“spacious”) + *din (“fort”); * If the Scots name is itself from English, then possibly from French Gourdon, derived from Gallo-Roman Latin Gordus, from Gaulish *Gordos; * Otherwise, possibly ultimately from Old English *gor-dūn (“mud hill”) whence a habitational name.
Related phrases
More for "gordon"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.