Georgian surnames
Encyclopedia
Most Georgian
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...

 surname
Surname
A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name"...

s
are derived either from patronymic
Patronymic
A patronym, or patronymic, is a component of a personal name based on the name of one's father, grandfather or an even earlier male ancestor. A component of a name based on the name of one's mother or a female ancestor is a matronymic. Each is a means of conveying lineage.In many areas patronyms...

s or, less frequently, from toponyms, with addition of various suffixes. The Georgian surnames are frequently specific to a particular province. Thus, many surnames from western Georgia end in the suffix –dze , literally meaning “a son”, while those from eastern Georgia end in –shvili (შვილი), literally meaning “a child”. Surnames from mountainous eastern Georgian provinces can be distinguished by the suffix –uri (ური), or –uli (ული). Most Svan
Svans
The Svans are a group of Georgians that mostly live in Svaneti, a region of Georgia speaking the Svan language. The self designated Svan is Mushüan, known to the ancient authors as Misimian.-History:...

 surnames typically end in –ani (ანი), Mingrelian
Mingrelians
The Mingrelians are a subethnic group of Georgians that mostly live in Samegrelo region of Georgia. They also live in considerable numbers in Abkhazia and Tbilisi...

 in –ia (ია), -ua (უა), or -ava (ავა), and Laz
Laz people
The Laz are an ethnic group native to the Black Sea coastal regions of Turkey and Georgia...

 in –shi (ში).

The first recorded Georgian surnames date to the 7th-8th century. They were mostly toponymic in nature (such as Pavneli, Surameli, Machabeli
Machabeli
Machabeli was a Georgian princely house which held a large fiefdom in the province of Inner Kartli called Samachablo after their family name....

, Orbeli), patronymic, or derived from the profession, social status, position, or title, which was hereditary in the family (such as Amilakhvari
Amilakhvari
The Amilkhvari was a noble house of Georgia which rose to prominence in the fifteenth century and held a large fiefdom in central Georgia until the Imperial Russian annexation of the country in 1801. They were hereditary marshals of Georgia from c. 1433, from which the family takes its name...

, Amirejibi
Amirejibi
Amirejibi or Amirajibi is a Georgian family, formerly a prominent noble house, which branched off the House of Palavandishvili and rose in prominence in the late 14th century...

, Eristavi, Dekanozishvili). Beginning from the 13th century, the surnames became more frequently based upon patronymics, a tradition which became almost universal in the 17th-18th century. Some of the Georgian surnames indicate ethnicity or regional origin of the family, and are also generated as patronymics. Examples are Kartvelishvili (“child of Kartveli”, i.e., Georgian
Georgians
The Georgians are an ethnic group that have originated in Georgia, where they constitute a majority of the population. Large Georgian communities are also present throughout Russia, European Union, United States, and South America....

), Megrelishvili (“child of Megreli”, i.e., Mingrelian), Cherkezishvili
Cherkezishvili
Cherk'ezishvili was a Georgian noble family, descended from the Circassian chieftains of Great Kabarda, whence the surname, literally meaning "children/descendants of a Circassian" in Georgian. They settled in Kakheti in the seventeenth century, and attained to a princely dingity of tavadi...

 (“child of Cherkezi”, i.e., Circassian), Abkhazishvili
Abkhazi
Abkhazi was a princely family in Georgia, a branch of the Shervashidze family from Abkhazia.According to the genealogical treatise by Prince Ioann of Georgia , the ancestors of the family fled the Islamicization of Abkhazia to the eastern Georgian kingdom of Kakheti were they were elevated, in...

 (“child of Abkhazi”, i.e., Abkhazian
Abkhazia
Abkhazia is a disputed political entity on the eastern coast of the Black Sea and the south-western flank of the Caucasus.Abkhazia considers itself an independent state, called the Republic of Abkhazia or Apsny...

), Somkhishvili (“child of Somekhi”, i.e., Armenian
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....

), Berdzenishvili (“child of Berdzeni”, i.e., Greek
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....

), Prangishvili (“child of Prangi”, i.e., French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...

).

According to the 2008 report by Georgia’s Civil Registry Agency, the most common Georgian surnames registered in the country are:

1. Beridze (ბერიძე) – 19,765

2. Kapanadze (კაპანაძე) – 13,914

3. Gelashvili (გელაშვილი) – 13,505

4. Maisuradze (მაისურაძე) – 12,542

5. Giorgadze (გიორგაძე) – 10,710

6. Lomidze (ლომიძე) – 9,581

7. Tsiklauri (წიკლაური) – 9,499

8. Kvaratskhelia (კვარაცხელია) – 8,815.
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