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Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!
You asked about the use of the name <Jordan> as a surname in England and France, between 1100 and 1250. Here is the information we have found.
To begin, in your period very few people used surnames in the modern sense of the word. People had a given name and were occasionally described with a second word or phrase called a "byname." Bynames were not fixed; a single person might be described by several different bynames in different circumstances. One very common type of byname was "patronymics," which identified a person as her father's child.
We found the following names in England: <Robert Jurdan> before 1182, and <John Jordan> 1202. [1] Either <Jordan> or <Jurdan> would be an acceptable byname for you. In English at this time, patronymics were usually just the father's name: <Margaret Jordan> meant "Margaret, daughter of Jordan." In your period, your name would probably have been written in Latin: <Phillipa filia Jordani>.
In France, we found the following given names: <Jourdain> 1292, and a feminine derivative, <Jourdenete>. [2] The same pattern for patronymics is found in France, too, and judging from our sources, it would have been common to call a woman something like <Marie fille de Jordan>.
The name <Jordan> actually originated from an Old German name <Jordanes>. However, its continued use was due to Crusaders, who had brought water from the river Jordan for the baptism of their children. [1]
We hope that this letter has been useful to you. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear, or if you have any other questions. Research and commentary on this letter was contributed by AElfwyn aet Gywrum, Arval Benicoeur, Margaret Makafee, Talan Gwynek and Walraven van Nijmege.
For the Academy,
Aryanhwy Prytydes merch Catmael Caermyrdin
[1] Reaney, P.H. and R.M. Wilson. A Dictionary of English Surnames, 3rd edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995
[2] Colm Dubh, "An Index to the Given Names in the 1292 Census of Paris", Proceedings of the Known World Heraldic Symposium 1996 (SCA: Montgomery, Alabama).