For 116 years straight, every King of England was called George.
That sentence does a lot of work. It tells you how deeply this name is stitched into British identity, why parents reach for it instinctively, and why even today, three centuries after King George I quietly arrived from Hanover in 1714, the name still feels like a piece of the country itself.
If you're considering George for your son, here's what's behind it.
Quick facts about the name George
- Meaning: Farmer, earth-worker
- Origin: Ancient Greek
- Gender: Masculine
- Pronunciation: JORJ (UK and US)
- Name day: 23 April (St George's Day)
- UK rank (2024): 6th most popular boys' name (3,257 babies)
- Number of British kings named George: Six (so far)
- Nicknames: Geo, Georgie, Geordie
- Female form: Georgia, Georgina, Georgiana
What does the name George actually mean?
The honest answer is "farmer." Which, for one of the most regal names in English history, is properly ironic.
George comes from the Greek name Georgios (Γεώργιος), built from two everyday Greek words: ge (γῆ) meaning "earth," and ergon (ἔργον) meaning "work." Put them together and you have georgos (γεωργός), which is the Greek word for someone who works the land. A farmer. An earth-worker. The opposite of fancy.
So when the name first appears in classical Greece, it isn't connected to kings or crusaders or knights. It's the kind of name you might give a boy on a vineyard outside Athens. A name that meant "this one will know the soil."
How that humble meaning eventually ended up belonging to six British kings is one of the more unexpected journeys in name history.
Who was Saint George, and did he really kill a dragon?
If you've ever seen the red cross on a white flag at an England football match, you've seen Saint George's emblem. Most of the British association with the name traces back to him.
The real Saint George was a Roman soldier born around 280 AD, almost certainly in Cappadocia (in modern Turkey) to Greek Christian parents. He served in the army of the Roman Emperor Diocletian. When Diocletian launched a sweeping persecution of Christians in 303 AD, George refused to renounce his faith and was executed on 23 April that year. His story spread fast across the Eastern Roman Empire, and by the Middle Ages he was one of the most venerated saints in Christendom.
The dragon, however, came much later.
The legend of George slaying a dragon to rescue a princess didn't appear in any Christian writing until roughly 900 years after his death. It was popularised in the 13th century through a medieval bestseller called The Golden Legend, compiled by the Italian archbishop Jacobus de Voragine around 1260. The story spread across Europe and turned George from an obscure Roman martyr into the iconic dragon-slaying knight you still see in stained glass windows. Most historians regard the dragon as pure medieval invention, a symbol, probably, of evil being overcome by Christian virtue. But it was the dragon that made George famous.
How did George become England's patron saint?
This is a great story, and it has nothing to do with George being English. He wasn't. He never visited Britain. He spoke Greek and Latin.
George became England's patron saint thanks to King Edward III, who ruled from 1327 to 1377. Before Edward, the official English patron saints had been Edward the Confessor and St Edmund the Martyr, both proper homegrown saints. But Edward III was preparing his country for a long war with France, and he wanted a saint who symbolised chivalry, courage, and military victory rather than peaceful kingship.
In 1348, in the middle of the Hundred Years' War, Edward III founded the Order of the Garter, an elite knightly brotherhood inspired by King Arthur's Round Table, and dedicated it to Saint George. The Order's home became St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. By the 15th century, George had effectively replaced Edmund the Martyr as England's national patron saint, and his red cross on a white background had become the national flag.
And so a Greek-Cappadocian Roman soldier, born around 280 AD in what is now Turkey, ended up as the spiritual symbol of England. History doesn't tend to take the short route.
The six Kings George of Great Britain
From 1714 to 1830, every British king was named George. Then there was a gap. Then they came back. Six in total so far, and quite possibly a seventh on the way.
- King George I (reigned 1714–1727): A German prince from the House of Hanover who became king almost reluctantly. He barely spoke English.
- King George II (reigned 1727–1760): The last British monarch to lead troops into battle in person, at the Battle of Dettingen in 1743.
- King George III (reigned 1760–1820): The "Mad King George" of the American War of Independence, recognisable from the film The Madness of King George. His reign was Britain's longest at that point.
- King George IV (reigned 1820–1830): Famous mainly for his extravagance, his unhappy marriage, and the seaside palace he built in Brighton.
- King George V (reigned 1910–1936): Renamed the royal family from the German-sounding "Saxe-Coburg and Gotha" to "Windsor" during the First World War. He shaped the modern British monarchy.
- King George VI (reigned 1936–1952): The wartime king made famous by the film The King's Speech, in which Colin Firth played him battling a debilitating stutter. He was the late Queen Elizabeth II's father.
And waiting in the wings: Prince George of Wales, born 22 July 2013. As the eldest son of Prince William, Prince of Wales, he is second in line to the throne. Should he eventually take the throne and choose to use his birth name, he will be the seventh King George, though he is free to pick any name from his full title (George Alexander Louis) as his regnal name, just as his great-great-grandfather Albert chose to become George VI.
How popular is George in the UK today?
According to the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS), George was the 6th most popular boys' name in England and Wales in 2024, with 3,257 babies given the name.
The trajectory tells an interesting story:
- 2013: Ranked around 10th when Prince George was born in July of that year.
- 2018, 2019, 2020: Climbed to 2nd place in the UK rankings, the so-called "Prince George effect."
- 2021–2023: Slowly slipped down the rankings.
- 2024: Settled at 6th. Still firmly in the top 10. Still a juggernaut.
So the royal boost has eased slightly, but George remains one of the most enduringly popular boys' names in Britain. It has been in the top 100 for as long as records have existed (since 1904), making it one of only a handful of names that have never gone out of fashion.
Famous people named George
Royals and statesmen:
- King George I–VI of Great Britain
- Prince George of Wales (b. 2013)
- George Washington (1732–1799), Founding Father and 1st President of the United States
- George H. W. Bush (1924–2018), 41st US President
- George W. Bush (b. 1946), 43rd US President
Writers (often using "George" as a pen name):
- George Orwell (1903–1950), pen name of Eric Arthur Blair, author of 1984 and Animal Farm
- George Eliot (1819–1880), pen name of Mary Anne Evans, author of Middlemarch
- George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950), Nobel Prize-winning Irish playwright
- George R.R. Martin (b. 1948), author of A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones)
Music, film, and culture:
- George Harrison (1943–2001), lead guitarist of The Beatles
- George Michael (1963–2016), born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, British pop superstar
- George Clooney (b. 1961), American actor and filmmaker
- George Lucas (b. 1944), creator of Star Wars and Indiana Jones
- Boy George (b. 1961), born George Alan O'Dowd, English singer (Culture Club)
Fictional Georges worth knowing:
- George Weasley, Fred's twin brother in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series
- Curious George, the lovable monkey from H. A. and Margret Rey's children's books (first published 1941)
- George Costanza, Jason Alexander's character in Seinfeld
- George Pig, Peppa Pig's younger brother, beloved of British toddlers
- George Bailey, James Stewart's character in Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Nicknames for George
George gives you several genuine options:
- Geo, short, modern, increasingly popular
- Georgie, affectionate, works well for boys and girls
- Geordie, traditional north-east English diminutive (also the name of the regional dialect)
- G, minimalist option some families use
George in other languages
One of the most travelled names in the world. Wherever you go, there's a version:
- Greek: Γεώργιος (Georgios), Γιώργος (Giorgos)
- Italian: Giorgio
- Spanish: Jorge
- Portuguese: Jorge
- French: Georges
- German: Georg, Jürgen, Jörg
- Russian: Yuri (Юрий), Georgy (Георгий), Yegor (Егор)
- Polish: Jerzy
- Czech: Jiří
- Welsh: Siôr
- Irish: Seoirse
- Hungarian: György
- Romanian: Gheorghe
- Bulgarian: Georgi
- Serbian/Croatian: Đorđe, Juraj
- Finnish: Yrjö, Jyri
- Arabic: Jirjis (جرجس)
- Malayalam (India): Geevarghese
If you ever wondered why "George" sounds nothing like "Jorge" or "Yuri," it's because each language reshaped the original Greek "Georgios" using its own sounds. Same name, dozens of accents.
What names go well with George?
George pairs beautifully with longer middle names, since the name itself is short and punchy:
- George Alexander
- George Edward
- George Henry
- George Louis
- George William
- George Frederick
- George Theodore
- George Oliver
- George Arthur
- George James
For siblings, George sits naturally alongside other classic British names like Arthur, Henry, Edward, Charlotte, Eleanor, Beatrice, Florence, and Charlotte. It's a name that loves the company of other timeless choices.
So is George a good name?
That's entirely your decision. But the case for it is hard to argue with.
It carries 1,700 years of history without feeling heavy. It belongs to six British kings, the founding father of the United States, two American presidents, a Beatle, a Nobel Prize-winning playwright, two of literature's most famous novelists writing under it as a pen name, and a small monkey beloved by generations of children. It has nicknames if you want them. It works on a tiny baby and a grandfather equally well. It travels into almost every language on earth. It's classic without being old-fashioned, royal without being pretentious, and short enough to fit on every form your son will ever fill out.
One Greek farmer. Six British kings. A dragon, possibly invented in Italy. And, very probably, a seventh king George waiting somewhere in the future.
It's quite the name to walk around with.
