We are pleased to announce the latest expansion of our name database with a comprehensive collection of Georgian names. As part of our ongoing effort to support global name diversity, this update introduces 4,700 Georgian given names and 41,450 Georgian family names in both scripts, now fully integrated into our system.
Georgian Language and Cultural Context
Georgian is the official language of Georgia and belongs to the unique Kartvelian language family, which has no known relatives among any other language group, making Georgian a true linguistic isolate on the world stage. It is written in its own distinct script, known as Mkhedruli, which has evolved over centuries and remains a strong symbol of national identity.
Georgian Naming Conventions
A standard Georgian name follows the familiar Western structure of a given name followed by a surname. Georgian names carry deep cultural and historical significance, shaped over centuries by three major influences: the Eastern Orthodox Christian tradition, the country’s pre-Christian heritage, and centuries of contact with Persian, Arabic, and later Russian cultures. Religious names drawn from Biblical and saintly traditions — such as Giorgi and Tamar — remain among the most widely used to this day, while a second layer of distinctly Georgian names reflects ancient mythology, nature, and national history.
What truly sets Georgian surnames apart are their characteristic suffixes, which encode lineage and regional origin directly into the family name. For example, -shvili means “child of” or “descendant of”, and is the most common suffix in eastern Georgia. Surnames such as Akhvlediani or Garibashvili are recognizable across the country. Another common suffix is -dze, meaning “son of”, characteristic of western Georgia, particularly the Imereti region. It appears in surnames like Gamkrelidze and Lordkipanidze.
Examples of Georgian Name Handling
With this addition, NameAPI services can now accurately process Georgian names in both the Georgian script and their Latin transcriptions as shown below:
- The Name Parser can now analyze names like “Tamar Beridze”, where Tamar is the given name and Beridze is the family name, and “Giorgi Maisuradze”, where Giorgi is the given name and Maisuradze is the family name.
- The Name Genderizer can now identify names such as “Ketevan Gelashvili” (female) and “Mikheil Giorgadze” (male).
- The Name Matcher can now identify a match between “Nikoloz Nozadze” and “Kolau Nozadze”, where Kolau is the short form of Nikoloz.