Gordon

G2O1R1D2O1N1
US/ˈɡɔrdn̩/UK/ˈɡɔːdn̩/

proper noun

A Scottish habitational surname, derived from Gordon, Berwickshire.

CommonScrabble 8

Meanings

proper noun

alternative Gurden · alternative Gorden

  1. A Scottish habitational surname, derived from Gordon, Berwickshire.
  2. An English habitational surname, derived from Gourdon, France.
  3. An Irish surname, adopted as an anglicization of Mag Mhuirneacháin (“son of Muirneachán”).
  4. A Jewish habitational surname, probably derived from Grodno, Belarus.

    Mount, vassals, couch your lances, and cry, "Gordon! Gordon for Scotland and Elizabeth!"

    1822 Walter Scott, Poetical Works: Halidon Hill (Baudry's European Library, 1838), page 420
  5. 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.

    1913, Harry Leon Wilson, Bunker Bean, BiblioBazaar, LLC, published 2008, →ISBN, page 13
  6. A place name:
    1. A village in Berwickshire, Scottish Borders council area, Scotland (OS grid ref NT6443).
    2. A suburb of Canberra; named for poet Adam Lindsay Gordon.
    3. A suburb of Sydney in Ku-ring-gai council area, New South Wales.
    4. A locality in Huon Valley council area and the Kingborough council area, southern Tasmania, Australia.
    5. A river in Tasmania, Australia.
    6. A town in Victoria; named for early settler George Gordon.
    7. A river in Western Australia, Australia; named for British statesman George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen.
    8. A city in Wilkinson County, Georgia; named for railroad official William Washington Gordon.
    9. A city in Sheridan County, Nebraska; named for early settler John Gordon.
    10. A village in Darke County, Ohio; named for an early settler.
    11. A borough in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania; named for judge David F. Gordon.
    12. A town in Ashland County, Wisconsin; named for fur trader Antoine Guerdon.
nounGordon (plural Gordons)

plural Gordons

Origin

  1. Old Englishgor“mud”
  2. EnglishGordon

The Scottish surname derives from Gordon in Berwickshire. This likely derives from Old English gor (“mud”) + dūn (“hill”), although a Brittonic etymology, from *gor (“great”) + *dīn (“fort”), has also been proposed.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with Gordon

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Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

Gordon. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Gordon

MLA

“Gordon.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Gordon. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Gordon,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Gordon.

Source: Gordon on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.