MEANING & HISTORY
What does Gordon mean?
Gordon entered personal naming through a Scottish surname derived from a place in Berwickshire. The cited place-name account identifies Brythonic elements interpreted as spacious and fort.
The linguistic layers matter: a Scottish surname can preserve elements from an older language of Britain. Modern use can honour a person or family without referring directly to that landscape. The name’s history does not support replacing the fort element with mountain or treating the meaning as a description of the bearer.
References for this explanation
Pronunciation & syllables
Dictionary readings are kept by language. Select the reading that matches your intended pronunciation. Dots show the source’s written divisions; they are not a universal syllable count across languages.
Wiktionary contributors / Kaikki / Wiktextract · CC BY-SA 4.0
Origin and name formation
Language-specific accounts from the dictionary. A shared spelling can have more than one history.
EnglishEtymology & source
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.
A male given name transferred from the surname.
Wiktionary: Gordon (English) ↗ · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0
Adapted from Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki/Wiktextract. Source accounts remain in their original English; editorial summaries and filters are adapted. Attribution and downloads
Use in Philippine-linked records
Public-record transcription
1
eligible source records · 2001
This spelling is reported in an openly licensed transcription of elected-candidate records. This is a record count, not a birth count or national popularity measure.
OpenHalalan / COMELEC ↗PSA · OFFICIAL BIRTH RECORDS
Gordon in the birth records
Exact spelling and stated year in the published name tables. Read the counts as individual snapshots.
Tables included: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024. The 2016 fact sheet lists five names per sex; the later tables include ten. Missing counts are not inferred. Sex categories follow the official tables, independently of dictionary gender labels. Explore the official tables →
Similar names to Gordon
Names with a similar opening or ending, ordered by spelling distance. Similar spelling does not imply the same meaning or origin.
Names in this collection
- Dondon♂Familiar form of Donald or Donato
- Goryo♂Watchful, through familiar Gregorio
- Abdon·Servant or one who serves
- Don♂Short form of Donald
- Gohan♂Modern Gohan, associated with Japanese cooked rice
- Goten♂Name taken from the Dragon Ball character Son Goten
- Goyo♂Familiar form of Gregorio
- Goyong♂Watchful, through Gregorio and Goyo
What rhymes with Gordon?
Matches share a dictionary-supplied rhyme key in the stated language. Check the recorded reading; another language or accent can change the rhyme.
Explore Gordon further
Follow the sources
- OpenHalalan — pinned 2001 COMELEC transcription (opens in a new tab)
Source-reported given-name form in a row with a separate explicit middle initial; ODbL-1.0.
- COMELEC — 2001 List of Elected Candidates (opens in a new tab)
Original document identified by the transcription; selected PDF entries were spot-checked, not every imported row.
- Wiktionary contributors — Gordon (English) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.
- Behind the Name — Gordon (opens in a new tab)
Consulted account of the name’s formation, relevant root elements, or explicitly linked base name.