Georges

This name derives from the Greek personal name "Georgios" (from "georgos", a farmer, a compound of "ge", earth or soil, plus "eregin", to till), and was first recorded in its Latinized form "Georgius" in 12th Century Documents relating to the Danelaw, London. The name continued in popularity from this century on as the Crusades brought greater contact with the Orthodox Church, in which there was a thriving cult of St. George, a Roman army officer, martyred in Palestine in A.D. 303. His supposed appearance to rally the Christian forces at Antioch in 1107 led to his adoption as patron saint of England. One William George was recorded in the Calendar of Letter Books for London, dated 1412. Henry George, aged 19 yrs., who embarked from London on the ship "Assurance" bound for Virginia, in July 1635, was one of the earliest recorded namebearers to settle in America. William George, died 1756, was principal of Eton for seventeen years and provost of King's College, Cambridgeshire, 1743. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert Gorge, which was dated 1273, in the "Hundred Rolls of Oxfordshire", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.