Gordon (given name)
| Gordon | |
|---|---|
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| |
| Gender | Masculine |
| Language(s) | English |
| Origin | |
| Language(s) | English |
| Word/name | Gordon (surname) |
| Other names | |
| See also | Gòrdan |
Gordon is a masculine given name in the English language. The name is derived from the Scottish surname Gordon. It is uncertain if this surname originated from a place name in Scotland or in France. The Gordon in Berwickshire, where the family who bore the surname held lands in the 12th century, is of uncertain etymology. It is also possible that this place name was named after settlers from France, who were named after a like-named place in Normandy. The surname is thought to have been taken up as a given name in honour of the Major-General Charles George Gordon, a British army officer who was killed in 1885, in Khartoum.
Origin of the name
The given name Gordon originates from a transferred use of the Scottish surname Gordon. The origin of this surname is debated. While it is considered to be derived from a place name, it is not certain that the place name of Gordon, in Berwickshire, Scotland is the origin of the surname.[1] Berwickshire was once the home of Clan Gordon, and the earliest member of the family on record is of Richer de Gordun, who was lord of the barony of Gordon, in the mid 12th century.[2] This place name may be derived from the Welsh gor, meaning "spacious"; and din, meaning "fort".[3]
However, it is also possible that the Scottish surname originated from a place name in Normandy, France, and was brought over to Scotland, where it gave rise to the place name in Berwickshire.[1] For example, the English surname Gordon is considered to be derived from Gourdon in Saône-et-Loire, France.[3] Early records of this surname occur in England in the early 13th century (such as Adam de Gurdon, in 1204).[2] This French place name is derived from the Gallo-Roman personal name Gordus and the locative suffix -o, -onis.[3]
The given name is thought to have been used in honour of Major-General Charles George Gordon (1833–85), who was killed at Khartoum.[1]
Variants, cognates
The masculine given name can be represented in Scottish Gaelic as Gòrdan.[4]
List of people with the given name
- Gordon (slave), African-American slave & US Civil War soldier
- Gordon Abbott, Australian rules footballer
- Gordon Allport, American psychologist
- Gordon Bajnai, Hungarian politician, ex-Prime Minister of Hungary
- Gordon Banks (born 1937), English football player
- Gordon Bau (1907-1975), make-up supervisor for Warner Bros. Studios in Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Gordon Bell, American computer engineer
- Gordon Brown, Scottish politician, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- Gordon Burgess (born 1935), president of Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, USA
- Gordon Campbell (disambiguation)
- Gordon Childe (the full name is Vere Gordon Childe), Australian archaeologist
- Gordon Stanley "Mickey" Cochrane (1903–1962), American baseball player
- Gordon Cooper (1927–2004), American astronaut
- Gordon R. Dickson, American science fiction author
- Gordon Downie Canadian singer/songwriter, lead singer of the Canadian band The Tragically Hip
- Gordon Frickers, English marine, aviation and landscape artist
- Gordon Getty (b. 1933), American, son of oil tycoon J. Paul Getty
- Gordon Gore (1913–1987), American football player
- Gordon Gould, American physicist
- Gordon Hayward (b. 1990), American basketball player
- Gordon Heuckeroth (b. 1968), Dutch singer and radio- and television presenter, under the name Gordon
- Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008), American, 15th president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
- Gordon Hookey (b. 1961), Australian aboriginal artist
- Gordon Howe (born 1928), Canadian hockey player
- G. Gordon Liddy (born 1930), American, jointly organized the first break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate scandal
- Gordon Lightfoot (b. 1938), Canadian singer-songwriter
- Gordon Lish, American writer
- Gordon Matta-Clark, American artist
- Gordon McRae, Canadian professional hockey player, retired
- Gordon McRae (1921-1986), American actor and singer; born Albert Gordon
- Gordon Moakes, English musician, member of Bloc Party
- Gordon Moore, American businessman
- Gordon Murray, South African designer of Formula One race cars
- Gordon Owen, English footballer
- Gordon Parks, American photographer and film director
- Gordon Pask, English cybernetician and psychologist
- Gordon Ramsay, Scottish celebrity chef
- Gordon Scott, American actor primarily known for playing Tarzan in theatrical films of mid- to late-50's
- Gordon Slethaug, American professor of English
- Gordon Smiley (1946–1982), American race car driver
- Gordon Smith (disambiguation)
- Gordon Strachan, Scottish football player and manager
- Gordon Sumner (born 1951), English performing artist, better known as Sting
- Gordon Tietjens (born 1955), New Zealand rugby sevens coach
- Gordon Remling (born 2004), American author and artist
- Gordon Walker (disambiguation)
- Gordon Waller (1945–2009), Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist, known as "Gordon" in the 1960s duo Peter and Gordon
- R. Gordon Wasson, American psychedelic writer
Other name
- Paul Gordon Georges (1923-2002), American painter
Fictional characters
- Gordon, character in Edith Templeton's novel Gordon
- Gordon, minor character in Rent
- Gordon, a character in School of Rock
- Gordon, the first archer to appear in the series Fire Emblem
- Gordon, character in recurring Kids in the Hall sketch "Fran and Gordon"
- Gordon the Big Engine, from The Railway Series and Thomas and Friends
- Gordon the Gopher, puppet character from various British children's TV programmes
- Gordon, The Talking Leg, character in Rocko's Modern Life
- Gordon, the pet devil of Ackman in Akira Toriyama's manga series Go Go Ackman and its video game adaptation
- Gordon Bombay, the main protagonist of The Mighty Ducks
- Gordon Deitrich, character in V for Vendetta (film)
- Gordon Fleming, the main protagonist of Session 9
- Gordon Freeman, the main protagonist of Half-Life
- Gordon Gekko, Protagonist Wall Street
- Gordon "Gordie" Lachance, the main character from Stephen King's The Body and Stand By Me
- Gordon Quid, character from Catscratch
- Gordon Robinson, from the popular children's educational television program Sesame Street
- Gordon Shumway, the extraterrestrial lead in the U.S. sitcom ALF
- Gordon Szalinski, a character from Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves
- Gordon Tracy, fictional character from Thunderbirds
- Gordon Walker, hunter in the television series Supernatural
See also
References
- 1 2 3 Hanks, Patrick; Hardcastle, Kate; Hodges, Flavia (2006), A Dictionary of First Names, Oxford Paperback Reference (2nd ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 113, ISBN 978-0-19-861060-1
- 1 2 Reaney, Percy Hilde; Wilson, Richard Middlewood (2006), A Dictionary of English Surnames (3rd ed.), London: Routledge, p. 1378, ISBN 0-203-99355-1 Cite uses deprecated parameter
|coauthors=(help) - 1 2 3 "Learn about the family history of your surname". Ancestry.com. Retrieved 18 October 2010. which cited Dictionary of American Family Names. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-508137-4. for the surnames "Gordon".
- ↑ Mark, Colin (2006), The Gaelic-English Dictionary, London: Routledge, p. 715, ISBN 0-203-22259-8