Pronunciation | /ˈdʒɔːrdʒ/ |
---|---|
Gender | Mainly Male |
Name day | April 23 |
Word/name | Greek: Γεώργιος (Georgios) |
Meaning | He who works the land |
Related names | Georgios, Giorgos, გიორგი (Giorgi), Георги (Georgi), Giorgio, Georgia, Georgina, Georgette, Georgetta, Gjergj, Gogo, Heorhiy, Georgiy, Jorge, Jørgen, Jay, Joe, Jurayj, Örjan, Yuri, Yrjö. |
George is a widespread given name, derived from the Greek Γεώργιος (Geōrgios) through the Latin Georgius. While it is commonly a masculine name and whereas in Greek it's a strictly masculinine name whose feminine equivalent form is Γεωργία (Geōrgia), in English it is also sometimes given as a feminine name. Its popularity is due to the widespread veneration of the Christian military saint Saint George (George of Lydda c. 275/281–303).
The name derives in origin from the name of Zeus Georgos, worshipped as a god of crops.
The noun γεωργός geōrgós "husbandman, farmer" and the verb γεωργέω geōrgéō "to be a farmer; to plow, till, cultivate" are attested in Attic Greek, in the works of Plato and Aristophanes.Geōrgós was one of Zeus's epithets in Athens: Ζεύς Γεωργός (Zeus Geōrgos), the god of crops and harvest.Aelius Herodianus in the 2nd century lists Georgios alongside Demetrios and Ammonios as a theophoric name derived from the theonym by -ios. It is likely that the historical Saint George (Georgios) was born in Lydda, Syria Palaestina in c. 280 as the son of a Greek Christian nobleman from Cappadocia. After his martyrdom in 303, the name Georgios soon became used more widely among Christians in the Eastern Empire.