Some names arrive with a decade and leave with it. George has been in the federal baby name records every single year since 1880, and after a long slide it is climbing again.
The meaning is farmer, or earth worker, which sits oddly beside six British kings, a founding father, a Beatle and a Hollywood leading man. That contrast is the appeal. George sounds unfussy and steady while carrying centuries of history behind it.
Verdict: George is a strong pick for a baby born in 2026. It is recognized everywhere, spelled correctly by everyone, and common enough to feel normal without crowding a classroom. It also grows with a child, from Georgie at preschool to George on a business card.
George Overview
- Meaning: George means farmer or earth worker.
- Gender: George is a boy name; the records list a small number of girls too.
- Origin: Greek, from Georgios.
- Pronunciation: JORJ, one syllable, rhymes with forge.
- Popularity: 126th for boys in 2025, and half of everyone ever recorded with the name was born by 1938.
- Nicknames: Georgie, Geo, Joe, Jory, Geordie.
- Variations: Georg, Georges, Giorgio, Jorge, Jerzy, Yuri.
- Namesakes: George Washington, George Harrison, George Clooney, George Orwell.
What Does George Mean?
George means farmer, or earth worker. It comes from the Greek Georgios, built from two pieces: ge, meaning earth or soil, and ergon, meaning work (1).
The literal sense is agricultural, not aristocratic. A George, in the original Greek, is the one who works the ground: the person who tends, plants and keeps things growing. The royal weight the name now carries was added later and never replaced the plain meaning underneath it.
Where Does the Name George Come From?
The name George has Greek origin. It began as the name Georgios (2) in ancient Greece, and it spread across Europe on the strength of one man’s story.
Saint George was a Christian martyr who died around AD 303. He was an officer in the Roman army rather than the armored knight of later paintings, probably a Greek speaker who lived and died in the Roman Near East, and his tomb is at Lydda, now Lod in Israel (3). He was venerated in England from at least the early 8th century, and his feast day is April 23, long before the name itself became an English staple.
The dragon came later still. The earliest surviving images of George with a dragon date from the 9th century, roughly 500 years after his death, and the story reached a wide audience through The Golden Legend in the Middle Ages, set in the town of Silene. The St George’s cross became England’s flag in the early 16th century, and George is also a patron of Venice, Genoa, Portugal, Ethiopia and Catalonia.
The name settled into the English-speaking world in the 18th century, when the House of Hanover took the British throne and produced a run of kings named George, from George I to George VI. With the crown behind it, the name became ordinary everyday usage, and US records have listed it in every year since 1880.
How Popular Is the Name George?
George ranked 126th for American boys in 2025, with 2,848 babies given the name, and its recent direction is up rather than down (4).
The long view is a slow decline followed by a turn. George sat 6th in 1913 according to the federal counts, its best rank in the comparable data, then eased down through most of the 20th century before flattening out near the turn of the millennium and starting to recover. Half of everyone ever recorded with the name was born by 1938. George still reads as a grandfather name to many adults, and it is just as open to a new generation of babies.
Federal records have listed George in all 146 years they cover, and 1,487,297 American boys have carried it since 1880, according to the same data. The earliest years look larger than they really were, because Social Security Administration files before 1913 count only births that later received a Social Security number. The honest statement is that George was already in use by 1880, not that it peaked there.
For a parent choosing today, 126th is a comfortable place to sit. Everyone knows the name and nobody asks how to spell it, yet it is still uncommon enough that a George is unlikely to share it with a classmate.
How Do I Pronounce George?
George is pronounced JORJ, one syllable, rhyming with forge and gorge.
Both Gs are soft, so the name opens and closes on the same J sound. It also travels well. The international forms below shift the sound a little, but the shape of the name survives in every language that borrowed it.
Is George a Boy or Girl Name?
George is a boy name in practice. It ranked 126th for boys in 2025, while just 5 girls were recorded with it that year, at rank 15,702, according to Social Security Administration data. Girls named George do appear in the records, only barely: 9,963 across the whole record, about 0.67 percent of everyone the federal data lists as a George.
The feminine forms carry the name for girls instead. Georgia, Georgina and Georgette all descend from the same Greek root, and Georgie works as a nickname for any of the three.
Variations of George
Because the root is ancient, nearly every European language built its own version of George. Any of these lets you keep the meaning while pointing at a specific heritage.
- Georg (German, Scandinavian)
- Georges (French)
- Giorgio (Italian)
- Jorge (Spanish, Portuguese)
- Jordi (Catalan)
- Yuri (Russian)
- Jerzy (Polish)
- Jürgen (German)
- Joren (Dutch)
- Goran (Slavic)
Nicknames for George
George is short enough to need no nickname at all, which is part of why it works on a toddler and a college application alike. Parents who want something softer for the baby years have a handful of options.
Common Nicknames:
- Georgie: The most common diminutive, sweet and youthful.
- Geo: A modern, snappy short form.
- Joe: A classic crossover nickname.
Creative & Rare Nicknames:
- Jory: A Cornish diminutive that feels fresh and modern.
- Geordie: A distinctly British and Scottish dialect nickname.
- G-Man: A fun, informal option for a little boy.
Names Similar to George
If you like George for its sturdy, gentlemanly sound but want to keep looking, these sit in the same style lane. The first few are the closest matches in feel.
- Arthur: Another one-word royal name with the same blunt, old-world sound.
- Henry: The same upper-crust history with a softer ending.
- Theodore: A long vintage name that gives you Teddy and Theo, the way George gives you Georgie.
- Edward: Another staple of British kings, formal and a little studious.
- Charles: A traditional peer to George that has never really left use.
- Frederick: The same clunky-cool vintage charm, with Fred and Freddie built in.
- Louis: A French royal name that pairs neatly with George.
- Walter: Same era, same plainspoken feel, less common on a class list.
- Albert: Another Hanoverian-era name that has aged into charm.
Names That Moved With George
Set George against the other boys’ names of the last 45 years and a small group traces nearly the same line: Jay, Russell, Charles, James, Jeremy and Walter. These are not sound-alikes. They are the names that moved on roughly the same schedule as George, though Jeremy kept falling while George turned back up, which makes them useful for sibling pairings or for a second option in the same taste.
The three closest are plotted above; the rest are listed here.
- Jay: Peaked in 1960 at 78th, its best rank, and sits 392nd in 2025 on a rising trend, the same late turn George made.
- Russell: Best rank 49th in 1914, the year after George’s own high, and 345th in 2025, also rising.
- Charles: Best rank 5th in 1918, a peak in 1932, and steady since, at 48th in 2025.
- James: Reached 1st in 1940, peaked in 1944, and is still 6th in 2025.
- Jeremy: Best rank 14th in 1976 and a peak in 1977, then a long fall to 292nd in 2025.
- Walter: Best rank 10th in 1914, the same era as George’s high, and 252nd in 2025 on a rising trend.
This is our reading of public birth data, not advice from anyone official.
Middle Names for George
George is a one-syllable anchor, so it takes a longer middle name without sounding crowded. Pick the list that matches the tone you want.
The Royal Traditionalist
For a name that sounds like it belongs on a plaque, pair George with these classics:
The Modern Cool
To balance the vintage weight of George, use a middle name that is fresh, surname-style or breezy:
- George Carter
- George Hudson
- George Mason
- George Wyatt
- George Beckett
- George Oliver
The Earthy & Soft
Lean into the farmer meaning with middle names that feel organic or vowel-heavy:
- George Arthur
- George Silas
- George Elliot
- George Julian
- George River
- George August
Sibling Names for George
A name this settled wants siblings that sound settled too. Charles and Walter moved on nearly the same popularity curve as George, and the rest share the same vintage, masculine feel.
For a Brother
These names share the same vintage, masculine feel:
For a Sister
These names are classic, feminine and just as slow to date:
Famous People Named George
The list of notable Georges runs across politics, music, film and books.
- George Washington: The first President of the United States and a founding father.
- Prince George of Wales: The eldest son of Prince William and second in line to the British throne.
- George Clooney: Academy Award-winning American actor and filmmaker.
- George Harrison: Lead guitarist of The Beatles.
- George Lucas: The creator of the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises.
- George R.R. Martin: The author of the A Song of Ice and Fire series, adapted as Game of Thrones.
- George Orwell: The pen name of the author of 1984 and Animal Farm.
George in Pop Culture
Writers reach for George when a character needs to read as ordinary, decent or comic, which says something about how the name lands on an audience.
- Curious George: The monkey from the classic children’s book series.
- George Bailey: The protagonist of the holiday classic It’s a Wonderful Life.
- George Costanza: The neurotic best friend in the sitcom Seinfeld.
- George Weasley: One of the mischievous twins in the Harry Potter series.
- George McFly: The father of Marty McFly in Back to the Future.
- George Jetson: The father in the animated series The Jetsons.
