Show ContentsOrdas History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Ordas is one of the thousands of new names that the Norman Conquest of 1066 brought to England. It comes from the Old English given name Aldus. Ald, the first part of the name, means old.

Early Origins of the Ordas family

The surname Ordas was first found in the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Lincolnshire in the south east of England, where they held a family seat from very ancient times. Soon after, Rudolphus Aldous was recorded in Yorkshire in 1168 as holding considerable estates and lands, and Robert Aldous was recorded in Norfolk in 1230.

"Aldous is an ancient east country name which at present has its principal home in and around Harleston in this county, though still found in Ipswich and Stowmarket. Aldus was the name of an Ipswich bailiff in 1654 (W.), and the name of Aldhuse was established in Stowmarket in the reign of Elizabeth (H.). In the forms of Aldus and Alduse it occurred in the reign of Edward I. in Norfolk, Notts, Lincolnshire, and Oxfordshire (H. R.). We learn from Blomefield's "Norfolk" that Aldous was the name of the rector of Wreningham in that county in 1393, and that Thomas Aldous of Starston, Norfolk, died in 1740 at the age of 100: Aldhouse is also an old Norfolk name." 1

Early History of the Ordas family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Ordas research. Another 36 words (3 lines of text) covering the year 1284 is included under the topic Early Ordas History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Ordas Spelling Variations

Anglo-Norman names tend to be marked by an enormous number of spelling variations. This is largely due to the fact that Old and Middle English lacked any spelling rules when Norman French was introduced in the 11th century. The languages of the English courts at that time were French and Latin. These various languages mixed quite freely in the evolving social milieu. The final element of this mix is that medieval scribes spelled words according to their sounds rather than any definite rules, so a name was often spelled in as many different ways as the number of documents it appeared in. The name was spelled Aldis, Aldous, Aldhouse, Aldus, Aldiss, Oldis and many more.

Early Notables of the Ordas family

More information is included under the topic Early Ordas Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.


United States Ordas migration to the United States +

Because of the political and religious discontent in England, families began to migrate abroad in enormous numbers. Faced with persecution and starvation at home, the open frontiers and generally less oppressive social environment of the New World seemed tantalizing indeed to many English people. The trip was difficult, and not all made it unscathed, but many of those who did get to Canada and the United States made important contributions to the young nations in which they settled. Some of the first North American settlers with Ordas name or one of its variants:

Ordas Settlers in United States in the 19th Century
  • Vicente De Ordas, who arrived in America in 1813 2
  • Pedro De Ordas, who landed in America in 1817 2
  • Alvaro De Ordas, who arrived in America in 1828 2


  1. Guppy, Henry Brougham, Homes of Family Names in Great Britain. 1890. Print.
  2. Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)


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