Georgy

Georgy is the Russian form of George, drawn from the Greek georgos, "farmer, earth-worker." Saint George slaying the dragon rides across the coat of arms of Moscow itself, making the name quietly civic as well as personal. Field Marshal Georgy Zhukov, the architect of the Soviet push to Berlin, pressed the name into twentieth-century memory. Two syllables with a soft final y, it lands shorter and cleaner than its Latinate cousins. The diminutive Zhora carries a rougher, more affectionate register. Uncommon in English-speaking countries, it remains familiar throughout Russia, a workhorse name with a saint's spine.