Hordas family name origin

The origin and the spelling of the family name is not absolutely certain despite the existence of an official version. The book “Jewish family names” by Eliezer Shlomo Rabinovich suggests in the fifth volume on page 317 that the correct spelling is Chardas and says that it is an abbreviation of “Hatan Rabbi David Safra” (son-in-law of Rabbi David Safra). This version is taken for granted by another book of Jewish family names by Alexander Beider. However, while the fact that the family name is an abbreviation is quite certain its meaning is less clear. The members of the family used to write the family name in Hebrew with “shin” rather than “sameh” in the end (the latter is suggested by the Rabinovich version). Since the members of the family were well-educated this is hardly a mistake in writing. The family tradition rather says that the name means “Hatunat Rabbi David veSara” (“Wedding of Rabbi David and Sara”). Which of the version is the right one is not clear at the moment.

There exist many different spellings of the family name. The family branch that stayed in Russia kept the name Hordas, while William who immigrated to the US wrote the name as Hordes. In Bobruisk Duma list one finds two other spellings for the members of the family – Khordos and Khardas’. Sara, sister of Yechiel Chaim Hordas, wrote Khardas, while the yet unconnected branch of the family (with the same family name and also coming from Bobruisk) writes Khordos.