English abbreviation for George, ultimately from Greek "husbandman".

Geo is a very common abbreviation for George in official documents. In the 1841 Census for Aberdeenshire, over 10% of the many thousand entries for George are thus shortened.

A note of caution: While Joe is universally known as a diminutive or pet name for Joseph, one correspondent [LA] wrote:

"I had a great-uncle known to family as Joe. After a great deal of searching for Joseph, I was able to locate his family and found that his name was actually George. The family used the abbreviation 'Geo.' which when spoken is pronounced 'Joe'."

Although the above anecdote is from Oregon, USA, it is quite possible that some records of "Joe" in English-speaking countries, especially in Census records, should more properly have been "Geo", the standard abbreviation for George.