Jordan

Jordan is a river before it is a name, flowing from Mount Hermon down through the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea, carrying baptismal weight in Christian tradition. The Hebrew root yarad means "to descend," which gives the name a quiet, almost geological gravity. It was brought to Europe by Crusaders who returned with water from the river and used it to baptize their children. In modern America, Jordan has sat firmly in the unisex column since the 1980s, lifted further by Michael Jordan's cultural dominance. It wears well across decades and genders, a name with both sand and headline in it.