What does Georgia mean?
Georgia means “farmer” or “worker of the earth.” It is a feminine form of George, ultimately from Greek Georgios and georgos. The Greek elements are ge, “earth,” and ergon, “work,” giving the name a direct connection with cultivation and the land.
Georgia is used in English and Greek, with quite different pronunciations. Its full spelling keeps George's recognizable opening while adding a final a. Georgina and Georgiana belong to the same feminine family, extending the name into longer forms.
A personal name and a place name
The American state of Georgia shares the personal name's connection with George. The colony was named for Britain's King George II, placing it within the history of the royal name as well as American geography.
That double identity gives Georgia both a traditional feminine-name background and a strong place association for English speakers. The country of Georgia has a different naming history; the Greek farming meaning belongs to the George-derived personal name.
The wider George family also has a long history through Saint George and the many European forms of his name. Georgia preserves a particularly clear link to George on the page, even as its spoken ending makes it distinct.
Georgia O'Keeffe and American painting
Painter Georgia O'Keeffe gives the name an especially vivid artistic association. Her work includes enlarged flowers, New York cityscapes, abstract compositions, and the landscapes and architectural forms of northern New Mexico.
O'Keeffe visited northern New Mexico in 1929, and the region gradually became central to her life and painting. The shapes of hills, bones, buildings, and plants became subjects she returned to, translating recognizable forms into striking arrangements of color and scale.
The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum opened in Santa Fe in 1997. Its collections and historic properties preserve the connection between her paintings and the places where she worked. Georgia brings a specific body of work to mind: close observation of natural forms and an unmistakable visual language.
Pronunciation, nicknames, and related forms
In English, Georgia is usually JOR-juh, with two syllables and stress on the first. Greek Georgia has four syllables, approximately yeh-or-YEE-ah, with stress near the end. The difference gives the same spelling a notably different rhythm in its two principal language settings.
Georgie is an established familiar form. Georgina, Georgiana, Georgeanna, and Georgetta are related feminine names, while Jorja is an English spelling alternative that follows the sound more directly. George is the masculine counterpart.
The final a softens the transition from the two j sounds in English Georgia. Georgiana adds further syllables, while Georgie keeps the same compact opening and changes the ending to ee.
Georgia in the United States
Georgia's best American girls' rank was No. 81 in 1882. Its largest annual count arrived much later: 2,619 babies in 2025, when it ranked No. 99. Those figures show both its nineteenth-century standing and its renewed visibility among American girls today.
Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution
Meaning and history draw on the references below. American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling; counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.
How popular is Georgia?
In 2025, Georgia ranked #99 among girls in the United States, with 2,619 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for girls in 1880; its largest annual count was 2,619 in 2025. Rankings count each spelling separately. They describe national use, so local familiarity can differ. The popularity chart shows whether the name has remained common, returned after a quieter period, or risen recently.