Cyrus H. Gordon was the first to point out that Jordan in the Hebrew Bible is not a proper name, but, with two exceptions, always appears with a qualifier, and suggested that on an early linguistic level it may relate to the rivers in Crete and in the Greek mainland as the word "river".
Cyrus H. Gordon's observation highlighted that Jordan in the Hebrew scriptures is not a personal name, but rather often accompanied by an adjective, which he believed might be rooted in ancient river names in Crete and Greece, possibly signifying a "river".