The Surname of George

George Coat of Arms (English)*

Georg Coat of Arms (German)*

English, Welsh, French, South Indian, etc.: from the personal name George, Greek Georgios (Γεώργιος), which developed out of geô (earth), and ergo (to work) also from an adjectival form, georgios ‘rustic’, of georgos ‘farmer’. This became established as a personal name in classical times through its association with the fashion for pastoral poetry. Its popularity in western Europe increased at the time of the Crusades, which brought greater contact with the Orthodox Church, in which several saints and martyrs of this name are venerated, in particular a saint believed to have been martyred at Nicomedia in ad 303, who, however, is at  best a shadowy  figure historically. Nevertheless, by the end of the Middle Ages St. George had become associated with an unhistorical legend of dragon-slaying exploits, which caught the popular imagination throughout Europe, and he came to be considered the patron saint of England among other places. As an American family name, this has absorbed cognates from other European languages, including German Georg and Greek patronymics such as Georgiou, Georgiadis, Georgopoulos, and the status name Papageorgiou ‘priest George’. In English-speaking countries, this surname is also found as an Anglicized form of Greek surnames such as Hatzigeorgiou ‘George the Pilgrim’ and patronymics such as Giorgopoulos ‘son of George’. It is used as a given name among Christians in India, and in the U.S. has come to be used as a surname among families from southern India.

Partly taken from:
Dictionary of American Family Names,
Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4

* Coat of Arms belonged to families and/or individual persons. People with the Surname of George came from England, Germany, the Netherlands & many other places. Georges from a different countries would have a different Coat of Arms. The above Coat of Arms on the left is believed to have belonged to William Edwards George, Esq., of Bristol

Variants of the Name George

·         Arabic: Jirjis (جرجس), or Jeryes

·         Albanian: Gjergj

·         Armenian: Գեվորգ (Gevorg)

·         Basque: Gorka

·         Bulgarian: Георги (Georgi)

·         Catalan: Jordi

·         Czech: Jiří

·         Danish: Jørgen

·         Dutch: Joris, Sjors

·         English: George (male), Georgia (female)

·         Estonian: Jüri

·         Finnish: Yrjö, Jyrki, Jyri

·         French: Georges

·         Georgian: გიორგი (Giorgi)

·         German: Georg, Jörg, Jürgen, Jörgen

·         Greek: Geôrgios (Γεώργιος) (formal), Giôrgos (Γιώργος) (informal)

·         Hungarian: György

·         Irish: Seoirse

·         Italian: Giorgio

·         Japanese: Jo-ji

·         Lithuanian: Jurgis

·         Malay: Jurjis

·         Norwegian: Jørgen, Georg

·         Polish: Jerzy

·         Portuguese: Jorge

·         Romanian: Gheorghe

·         Russian: Георгий (Georgij), Юрий (Yury), Егор (Yegor)

·         Scottish: Deòrsa, Seòras, Deòrsag (female).

·         Serbian: Ђорђе (Djordje)

·         Slovak: Juraj

·         Spanish: Jorge (male), Jorgelina, Georgina (female)

·         Swedish: Jörgen

·         Welsh: Siôr, Siors, Siorus

·         Syria Christian: Gheevargheese and other forms