English, ultimately from Greek "husbandman".
Although George was the name of English Kings and might be supposed to be unpopular in Scotland in the late 18th and early 19th century centuries, George is one of the 10 most frequent names in the 1841 Census of Aberdeenshire. It remains popular especially for the pet names Dod and Doddie. These might be considered to be tee-names [see FAQ #13.] or derived from the Scottish Gaelic equivalent, Deòrsa.
In old documents, written in Latin, Georgius and Gorgius were used for George, with appropriate case endings. The Gaelic equivalents are Deòrsa/Seòras/Seòrsa.
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 who was always 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 was 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. |
