Jorge
A Romance-language form of George, ultimately from Greek words meaning “earth-worker” or “farmer.”
The #5,573 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 49,510 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Jorge is the Spanish and Portuguese form of George, a name borrowed from Greek Georgios. The Greek root combines ge meaning “earth” and ergon meaning “work,” so the original sense is “farmer” or “earth-worker.” As a surname, Jorge is often best understood as a family name taken from a personal name rather than from a place or trade directly.
History
The given name George spread widely through Christendom because of St. George, and Romance forms such as Jorge became common in Spain and Portugal. As a surname, it may have arisen from descent from a man named Jorge, or from the occasional practice of using a familiar forename as a hereditary family name. The surname is especially found in Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking communities, including diaspora populations.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In medieval and early modern Iberian records, Jorge is far more often a personal name than a hereditary surname, which can make family lines harder to trace than the modern spelling suggests.
From the historical record
“* Hence we find Skelton speaking in one of his poems of ' That gentyll Jorge the Januay. ' M l62 ENGLISH SURNAMES.”
— English Surnames: their sources and significations