Recorded in many spelling forms including: Cord, Corde, Corday, Cordey, Cordier, Cordelet, Cordel, Cordeau, Cordeux, and Cordie, this is a surname of French origins of which it has two. The first is an occupational name for a maker of cord or string from the pre 5th century Roman (Latin) "corda", and the Ancient Greek "khorde", meaning rope. The second origin is locational from any of the various French villages called "Cord or Corde", in the departments of Orne, Bouce, and Montree. In this case the derivation is from the Gallo-Roman personal name "Cordus", meaning young or new, and presumably meaning "new town". Early examples of the surname taken from surviving French registers include: Cicil de Corde, a witness at Tours Le Mont, Clermont, in the department of Oise, on March 1st 1573, Daniell Cordier, on January 7th 1632 at Sarlat in the Dordogne, and Jean Cordeau, christened at Dangeau, Eure-et-Loire, on March 17th 1732. However the very first recorded spelling of the surname is not in France at all, but in England. This was that of Walter Corde, and dated 1182, in Abbott Samson's "Kalender of the abbey of Bury St. Edmunds", Suffolk. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop", often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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