- David Starr Jordan chose his middle name of Starr for two reasons. First, he loved astronomy and would make maps of the celestial bodies he could view from his farm as a boy. Second, Starr is a reference to one of his mother's favorite writers Thomas Starr King.
- He enjoyed the company of his pet monkeys at his home, especially in his later years
- Created the system of general education requirements and a chose "major" or specialty with a "major professor" to offer guidance in the subject. Jordan helped formulate this system with Dr. Hans C. G. von Jagemann and Dr. William Lowe Bryan. He first established it at Indiana University and then at Stanford University. This same system is what most major universities use today.
- Invented what is known as "Jordan's Law" as still referred to in certain textbooks.This law discussed the development of "geminate" or sibling species that result from speciation.
- An NOAA ship was commissioned in 1964 named after the renowned ichthyologist The David Starr Jordan. It has logged over a million miles while studying the biological and physical oceanography of the southwestern U.S. coast and the eastern tropical Pacific.
- There is a high school in Los Angeles, California named after David Starr Jordan
- The David Starr Jordan Prize is awarded every 3 years from a joint endowment from Cornell, Indiana, and Stanford Universities for "innovative contributions to the study of evolution, ecology, population or organismal biology." The prize is international in scope and awarded to a young scientist less than 40 years in age.
NOAA ship The David Starr Jordan
David Starr Jordan High School
