The GORDON surname in the USA

Frequency Comparisons
	Total	Rank	Frequency %	Per million people
United States
United States (Current snapshot)	154,934	151	0.057	574
United States (1880 census)	28,699	175	0.057	574
Change since 1880	+126235	+24	0	0
Other Countries
Australia	9,112	126	0.056	557
United Kingdom	30,421	161	0.066	662

Top States for GORDON by Total
State	Total	Rank in State	Frequency %	Per million people
California	13,265	199	0.039	392
Florida	13,056	91	0.082	817
New York	12,144	69	0.064	640
Texas	7,775	302	0.037	373
Pennsylvania	6,989	112	0.057	569
Top States for GORDON by Frequency
State	Total	Rank in State	Frequency %	Per million people
Maine	1,313	123	0.103	1,030
Washington DC	548	82	0.096	958
Mississippi	2,696	128	0.095	948
Vermont	505	100	0.083	829
Florida	13,056	91	0.082	817

Notes

Total is the total number of people with that surname.
Rank is the position in the list of names ordered by total (eg, a rank of 1 means that it's the most common name, and a rank of 10 means it's the tenth most common, etc).
Frequency is the percentage of people with that surname.
Per million people is the number of people with that surname per million of the population.

'A figure of zero indicates that we don't have data for this name (usually because it's quite uncommon and our stats don't go down that far). It doesn't mean that there's no-one with that name at all!

For less common surnames, the figures get progressively less reliable the fewer holders of that name there are. This data is aggregated from several public lists, and some stats are interpolated from known values. The margin of error is well over 100% at the rarest end of the table!

For less common surnames, the frequency and "per million" values may be 0 even though there are people with that name. That's because they represent less than one in a million of the population, which ends up as 0 after rounding.

It's possible for a surname to gain in rank and/or total while being less common per million people (or vice versa) as there are now more surnames in the USA as a result of immigration. In mathematical terms, the tail has got longer, with a far larger number of less common surnames.

Figures for top states show firstly the states where most people called GORDON live. This obviously tends to be biased towards the most populous states. The second set of figures show where people called GORDON represent the biggest proportion of the population. So, in this case, there are more people called GORDON in California than any other state, but you are more likely to find a GORDON by picking someone at random in Maine than anywhere else.

Classification and Origin of GORDON

Region of origin: British Isles

Country of origin: Scotland

Language of origin: Gaelic

Ethnic origin: Celtic

Religious origin: Christian

Name derivation: From given name or forename

Data for religion and/or language relates to the culture in which the GORDON surname originated. It does not necessarily have any correlation with the language spoken, or religion practised, by the majority of current American citizens with that name.

Data for ethnic origin relates to the region and country in which the GORDON surname originated. It does not necessarily have any correlation with the ethnicity of the majority of current American citizens with that name.

Ethnic distribution of GORDON in the USA

Classification	Total	Percent
Asian/Pacific	697	0.45
White (Caucasian)	104,968	67.75
Black/African American	42,173	27.22
White (Hispanic)	3,099	2
Mixed Race	2,928	1.89
Native American/Alaskan	1,069	0.69

Ethnic distribution data shows the number and percentage of people with the GORDON surname who reported their ethnic background as being in these broad categories in the most recent national census.

Meaning of GORDON in historical publications

Gurtduine, Gaelic, a fierce man; Gwrddyn, Welsh, a strong man; Cawrdyn, Welsh, a hero, a giant. Some have derived the Gordons from Gordinia, in Thessaly; others say they are descendants of the Gorduni mentioned by Cæsar in his Commentaries. The name appears to be local, and may be derived from a town in France of that name, in the Department of Lot. It signifies in Gaelic the round hill, or the hill that surrounds, from Gour, round, and dun, a hill or fort.

Arthur, William (1857) An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names. New York: Sheldon, Blakeman. Public Domain.

GORDON. According to some genealogists this name is derived from Gordonia, a town in IMacedonia : according to others from a manor in Normandy — origins literally too " far-fetched," since the parish of Gordon, in Berwickshire, where we find the family located at an early date, is its tiaie source. " Thei-e is a nice little romance to the tune of making the founder of the family a certain Bertrand de Gourdon, who shot Eichard the Lion-Hearted at Chaluz. According to history, this Gourdon was a common archer, who ha\nng been brought before the d3'iug monarch was forgiven by him, and ordered to be libci"ated with a handsome present ; but the Flemish general, who had no notion of such generosity, very coolly ordered him to bo Hayed alive. Hoav, after such an operation, he could get into Scotland we are nottold." N. and Q., Nov. 1, 185(;. The cheerfulness of this family is exhibited in the proverb, The Gay Gordoxs.

Lower, Mark A (1860) Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom. London: J.R. Smith. Public Domain.

Similar names to GORDON

The following names have similar spellings or pronunciations as GORDON.

This does not necessarily imply a direct relationship between the names, but may indicate names that could be mistaken for this one when written down or misheard.