A male name. Hebrew ‘flowing down’, the name of the principal river of Palestine. There was an Old German personal name Jordanes, probably from the same root as Old Norse jördh ‘land’. Jordan is found as a christian name in England from the end of the 12th C, and the probability is that its ultimate source was the Old German Jordanes, but that its continued use was due to confusion with the name of the river, which would be familiar to returning Crusaders who were in the habit of bringing back Jordan water to be used in the baptism of their children. The surnames Jordan, Jordans, Jordanson, Jordison, &c., are derived from it. C. W. Bardsley, Dictionary of English and WelshSurnames (pub. 1901) also derives the surnames Judd, Judson, Juggins, Juxon, Jewks, &.c., from Jordan by way of the nickname Jvdd. But there is no evidence connecting Judd with Jordan, and it is more probable that it was an Old English name cognate with Old German Judo which is recorded.

Jurdanus Curia Regis Rolls 1196. JordanuS Feudal Aids 1284, 1302. Jurdan Hundred Rolls 1273. Jordan Hundred Rolls 1273. Jurdi Hundred Rolls 1273.

Hebrew, ‘descender,’ the river Jordan being derived from jared, ‘to descend,’ for it flows with exceeding swiftness. ‘ It was probably this custom (of bathing purificatorily therein) that led to the adoption of Jordan as a baptismal name,’ Yonge. It is now mostly a surname.

A male name, which is thought to have been derived, perhaps in Crusading times, from the cele­brated river.

Jor'-dan, the river of judgment, that rejects judgment, descent. A river of Judea, rising in Mount Libanus. It runs 150 miles through Palestine, and empties itself into the Dead Sea: its common breadth is not more than sixty feet.

Meaning: their descent.

A Hebrew name, meaning: Descendant: flowing down: the river of judgment.