George
A form of Georgios
George, in English
Saint George — the soldier-martyr on the white horse: dragon-slayer, and patron of soldiers, farmers, and nations from England to Georgia.
It keeps the same day as the name it comes from — everything below is that name’s.
Origin
The story of Georgios
Every Georgios carries a Roman soldier. George was an officer in the army of Diocletian — a Cappadocian Greek of good birth who, when the emperor turned on the Christians in the year 303, tore up the edict, gave his wealth to the poor, and refused to burn incense to the old gods. He was tortured and beheaded on the 23rd of April, and the Church has kept that date for him ever since.
The dragon came later. In the medieval retelling, George rides to a city held hostage by a beast in its lake and runs it through with his lance to free the king's daughter — the scene the whole world now pictures. It is legend, not history, but it fixed him forever as the pattern of courage.
His name is older still. Γεωργός — geōrgós — means “the one who works the earth,” from γῆ (earth) and ἔργον (work). It made the warrior-saint the unlikely patron of farmers — which is why his April feast falls exactly when the land turns green.
“The rider who faces the thing everyone else has fled.”
onomasti · GeorgiosSeventeen centuries. One name. One day.
From Cappadocia to every Greek table on earth.
Key facts
Georgios at a glance
Why some years move: the feast is fixed to 23 April — but when that date falls on or before Pascha, the Church carries it to Bright Monday so the martyr's joy isn't eclipsed by Holy Week. onomasti computes this for every year.
Variations
Forms & nicknames of the name
One name takes many forms — the formal, the everyday, the affectionate, and the spellings that travelled abroad. Each has its own page here, and all share the same day.
Greek
English & romanised
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Namesakes
Notable people named Georgios
Georgios Papanikolaou
Giorgos Seferis
George Michael
Yorgos Lanthimos
Georgios Karaïskakis
Georgios Vasiliou
Giorgos Dalaras
Georgios Averoff
George Washington
George Orwell
George Clooney
Distribution
Where the name is found
Georgios is documented as one of the most common male names in Greece and Cyprus; as George it stays perennially popular across the English-speaking world. Saint George is patron of England, Georgia, Portugal, Ethiopia and more.
On exact numbers: most national registries don't publish per-name counts, so we don't invent per-country figures. The map shows only patronage and where the name is documented as most common.
Iconography
Georgios in sacred art
DepictingSt George the Trophy-bearer
Images from Wikimedia Commons under free licences, credited to their source. We show a depiction only where the saint on this name’s day could be identified against our own recorded feast date — never a picture found by searching for the name.
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