George

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Georgios in GR Greece, SE Sweden, Giorgi in PL Poland, ES Spain, Გიორგი in GE Georgia and Γιωργος in CY Cyprus.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 18 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

George is also recorded as 4 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Portuguese given name1.3M records spelled George47 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Brazil, United States, Colombia, Spain

  Languages: Portuguese, Spanish, French

  Also written Georgios, Geörge, Gęörgë, Gëörgë, Gëorgë

• Hungarian given name329K records spelled George33 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Hungary, Romania, United States, United Kingdom

  Languages: Hungarian, English, German

  Also written Gyorgy, György, Gyoergy, Győrgy, Gyôrgy

• a separate given name241K records spelled George3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, India, United Kingdom, Canada

  Also written Georgé, Georǵe

• Malayalam given name71K records spelled George13 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Spain, Peru

  Also written Jorge, ജോർജ്, Jorj, Jorja, ஜோரஜ

116 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

George is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In Irish, From Latin Georgius, ‘farmer’; popular in England and Ireland, associated with St George and royal usage.

  as a name·Irish first names

• In English, from Greek Georgios, ‘land-worker, farmer’; first attested Georgius Grim 12th DC (Lancashire)

  as a name·A Dictionary of English Surnames

• In English, Greek for ‘farmer’; name of the patron saint.

  as a name·Irish first names

• In German, Patronymic form from Georg/George with Latin genitive-style ending; represented especially in central/eastern German areas.

  as a name·Deutscher Familiennamenatlas, Band 3: Morphologie der Familiennamen

• In English, radiotelephony clear-code word for the letter G.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• George I of Great Britainb. 1660DEKing of Great Britain and Ireland from 1714 to 1727
• George IIb. 1683DEKing of Great Britain and Ireland from 1727 to 1760
• George III of Great Britainb. 1738GBKing of Great Britain and Ireland from 1760 to 1820 (1738–1820)
• George IVb. 1762GBKing of the United Kingdom and Hanover from 1820 to 1830
• George Eliotb. 1819GBEnglish novelist, essayist, poet and journalist (1819–1880)
• George Porterb. 1920GBBritish chemist (1920–2002)
• George Sorosb. 1930HUHungarian-American investor and philanthropist (born 1930)
• George Saundersb. 1958USAmerican writer (born 1958)
• George Michaelb. 1963GBEnglish singer (1963–2016)
• Kiefer Sutherlandb. 1966GBnot in their usual nameBritish-Canadian actor (born 1966)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 1,947 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name George?

We estimate roughly 1.4 million people bear George (counting its spellings and scripts) across 13 countries in our records.

In which country does George have the most bearers?

George is most frequently recorded in the United Kingdom, where it is most often spelled george.

Where is George most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, George is densest in Georgia — about 1 in 21 people — even though United Kingdom holds more of our records for it.

How common is George compared with other names?

In the United Kingdom, George is the 45th most common given name of 369,273 given names recorded there.

Is George a male or female name?

George is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name George mean?

Recorded meaning: from the male personal name George, ultimately from Greek Georgios, literally 'farmer'.