This famous surname, with spellings of Gordon, Gorden and Gourdon, is of locational origins. It is Scottish from Gordon in Berwickshire, or Anglo-French from Gourdon in the departement of Saone-et-Loire, France. The former was so called from the Olde Gaelic "gor", meaning large or spacious, plus "dun", a fort and the surname was first recorded in the mid 12th Century, (see below). Adam de Gurdun, recorded in the Pipe Rolls of Hampshire dated 1204, is believed to have come from the French town, so called from the Gallo-Roman personal name Gordus, plus the locational suffix "-on(is)". One, Geoffrey Gurdun appears in the Curia Rolls of Kent, dated 1220 and an Adam Gordon in the 1279 "Hundred Rolls of Cambridgeshire". Sir Adam de Gordon (deceased 1333) was Justiciar of Scotland 1310 - 1314. He obtained the Lordship of Strathbogie, which he named Huntly circa 1315. Branches of his family have since held the titles of Lord of Strathbogie, Duke of Gordon and Earl and Marquess of Huntly. Richard Gorden, was christened on the 5th March 1665 at St. James Clerkenwell, in the city of London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richer de Gordun. This was dated 1154, in the "Records of St. Michael's Church", Kelso, Scotland, during the reign of King David 1 of Scotland, 1124 - 1153. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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