Jourdan
Feminine · “one who descends”
Jourdan is given to both — 2,324 girls and 1,869 boys since 1880. See Jourdan as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Jourdan is Jordan written in French. The ou is not decoration: it is the ordinary French way of spelling that vowel, and Jourdain has been the standing French form of the name for centuries. What looks like an American respelling is actually the older orthography arriving by a different door.
How old is the name Jourdan?
Jourdan first appears in US birth records in 1980 — 45 years ago. The typical Jourdan alive today was born around 1994, making them about 31 years old. About 2,300 people named Jourdan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Jourdan most popular?
Jourdan peaked in 1990, reaching #1001 nationally. See the whole 1990 chart.
Where it comes from
From Jordanus to Jourdan
The story of Jourdan
The most consequential man to carry the name carried it as a surname. Jean-Baptiste Jourdan was a soldier who had enlisted as a boy, left the army, sold cloth for a living, and came back to command French armies in the revolutionary wars; he won at Fleurus in 1794 and was made a Marshal of the Empire. His lasting mark is not a battle, though. In 1798 he carried a law through the legislature that made military service a general obligation of every young Frenchman rather than a matter of recruitment and bounty, and it has been called the Jourdan law ever since. Modern conscription in Europe effectively begins with it, which is a considerable amount of history for a spelling most people take to be a flourish.
Meaning
one who descends; from the river Jordan
Hebrew Yarden, from a root meaning to go down, describing the river's fall rather than any person. Medieval Europe took it up as a baptismal name, and the French spelling reflects French habits rather than any change of sense.
How the name formed
- Jordanus
- Jourdain
- Jourdan
Related forms: Jourdain · Yarden · Giordano · Jordán
Pronouncing Jourdan
JOR-dan
In English it is said exactly like Jordan; the ou makes no audible difference. French says roughly zhoor-DAHN, with the stress at the back and a nasal ending English does not have.
Nicknames for Jourdan
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1980
- Most girls named
- 1990181 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1001reached in 1990
- Change vs 2023
- 0.0%7 in 2024, from 7
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Jourdan in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Jourdain in French — same name
- Yarden in Hebrew — same name
- Giordano in Italian — same name
- Jordán in Spanish — same name
Jourdans among us
people named Jourdan are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Jourdan sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It is a genuine French form rather than an invented respelling.
- The sound is completely familiar, so it is never mispronounced.
- It looks distinctive on paper while asking nothing extra of the ear.
- It will be corrected to Jordan constantly, in writing and on forms.
- The record holds girls as well, and the girl is the smaller side of the name.
- The French spelling promises a French pronunciation that English speakers will not deliver.
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What they receive
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Jourdan
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Jourdans are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,300 people named Jourdan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Jourdan in 2025?
- Jourdan is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Jourdan with classmates?
- Jourdan will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More J names
The most-given names starting with J, all years combined.
Jennifer#586 · Jessica#665 · Janet#2778 · Julie#872 · Joyce#1071 · Joan#1085 · Julia#131 · Jean#2117
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Jourdan? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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