Giordana

Giordana Otero

Giordana (jee-or-dah-na) is the Italian feminine form of Jordana, originally from the name of the Jordan River. Jordan is Hebrew meaning "flowing down," a very suitable name for a river, but popular in Italian because it was where Jesus was baptized. Giordana's saint day is September 5th in memory of Saint Jordan of Saxony, who was one of the first leaders of the Dominican Order. Zordana, Yordana, Giardina, Jardena, Jordi, Jorda, Jardina, and Jordain are other international variants. All versions of the name were commonly given to children baptized in holy water from the Jordan River, even since the Middle Ages.

Giordana has never ranked in the U.S. top 1000 and was given to only 9 baby girls in 2011. Even the more American version, Jordana, was only given to 85 baby girls in 2011, still considered quite rare. The unisex name Jordan ranked at #196 in 2011 for girls, on its way down from #50 in 2000, and for boys it ranked at #46 in 2011, still just about as popular as it was a decade ago. The male version of this name is Giordano, which is Italian for Jordan, and this has not ranked. However, in Italy both Giordana and Giordano are more common.

There are two namesakes for Giordana - one is "Gypsy" Giordana Otero, an actress who stared alongside the Jonas Brothers in the Disney Channel's "Jonas L.A." and the other is lighting designer Giordana Arcesilai. As for boys, there have been several namesakes from composer Umberto Giordano to 16th century philosopher Giordano Bruno. Giordano is also a common surname.