Holiday Calendar

National George Day

Next celebratedTuesday, May 25, 2027

England kept St George's feast from the eighth century and still barely used his name: it took the Crusades to import it and a German elector's accession in 1714 to make it common. May 25 is the day it now gets.

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Last updated September 7, 2026 · by the Holiday Calendar TeamHave an update or spot an error?
YEARLY DATEMay 25
OBSERVED INInternationally
CATEGORYNames
ORIGIN

Community Origin

FOUNDING ENTITY
Not documented
FIRST OBSERVED
Not documented
HOW THE HOLIDAY CAME TO BE

The absence was checked, not assumed.

A Federal Register search returns no document naming National George Day. No founder, establishing act or inception year has been documented, and the day runs without an organiser.

+ Know the story? Submit a founder Help us complete this holiday
INTRO

America is five times bigger and names fewer Georges

National George Day belongs to a name that two national statistical offices no longer agree about. Their 2025 lists make the point. England and Wales registered 3,082 boys named George.

The United States registered 2,848. America has more than five times as many boys to name. Its own list still puts George at 126th.

England and Wales put it seventh. That is a gap of 119 places in a single year. The day arrives with that argument unresolved.

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ORIGINS

George Day history

INTRODUCTION

For most of English history, George was a foreign name. The saint was known there early, and his feast on 23 April was kept in England from at least the early 8th century. The name itself lagged far behind the cult.

It arrived with the Crusaders and stayed uncommon for centuries. The Online Etymology Dictionary puts the real spread late, saying George was "not common until after the Hanoverian succession" in the 1700s. Other naming references date the rise earlier, so the exact turn is not settled.

CHAPTER 01

Four kings, one name

In 1714 the Elector of Hanover inherited the British throne and became George I. The Act of Settlement had put him in line. He was not the obvious choice.

Some 50 Roman Catholic relatives had stronger claims and were barred. His son, his grandson and his great-grandson followed him in turn. By 1830 the crown had passed through four consecutive Georges without a break.

CHAPTER 02

America's fifty-eight year run

American national name records open in 1880, and George is already there in fifth place. It did not drop out of the top ten once in the decades that followed.

The run ended in 1937. George finished tenth that year, with 18,439 boys. It fell to eleventh the following year and has not been back since.

CHAPTER 03

A day with no paperwork

The observance has none of that behind it. Nobody has ever claimed authorship, and no report of a first celebration survives to point at.

A Federal Register search returns nothing under the name.

TIMELINE

Timeline

A George takes the British throne

The Elector of Hanover inherited under the Act of Settlement and became George I, opening 116 years in which every British king was a George.

American name records open

The first year of national US birth-name data ranks George fifth among boys, and it holds a top ten place in every year through 1937.

The royal family becomes Windsor

Anti-German feeling during the First World War led George V to adopt Windsor as the family name, after the castle.

The last top ten year

George finished tenth with 18,439 American boys, slipped to eleventh in 1938 and has not returned to the top ten since.

A medal named for a king

George VI created the George Cross and the George Medal for acts of bravery by citizens, and Malta received the Cross in 1942.

A 113 year run ends

George closed an unbroken run of 113 years inside the American top 100, and it has ranked below that line in every year since.

WHY THIS DAY MATTERS

Why We Love National George Day

DIVERGENCE

Eighty-nine places apart by 1994, and wider at every reading since.

In 1984 the two lists printed George at 71st in England and Wales and 68th in the United States, but ranks from two registries are positions inside different pools, so a small difference between them is not evidence that the countries agreed. What is unambiguous is the later split: by 1994 England and Wales had it 21st and America 110th, a gap far too wide to be a pooling effect, and it has stayed above a hundred places at every reading since.

DURABILITY

A floor only nineteen boys' names have held

Nineteen boys' names have never once fallen out of the American top 200 across all 146 years from 1880 to 2025, and George is one of them. Fifteen of those nineteen have reached the top ten at some point, and George's wait since 1937 is the longest of them at 88 years, a standing it only holds because Henry climbed back into the top ten in 2020 after 110 years away.

OBSERVANCE

The day is attested by keeping, not by decree

There is no organiser to point to, so the evidence that the day exists is people marking it: the Manchester Evening News posted a greeting to all the Georges, Georgias and Georginas on 25 May 2025. A separate public post the same day used the name International George Day and the tag internationalgeorgeday.

AT A GLANCE

The name George at a glance

Root
Greek georgos, one who tills the ground
Built from
ge, earth, plus ergon, work
Route into English
Late Latin Georgius, then French Georges
US years listed
All 146, from 1880 to 2025
Worst US rank
166th, in 2012
Counted separately
George, Georges, Georgie, Giorgio, Jorge

GOOD TO KNOW

Surprising facts about National George Day

George has three different peak years

The most American boys got the name in 1921, at 27,476, though 1924 sits within half a percent of that. Its highest share came in 1880, at 4.64 percent, by an even narrower margin, and its best rank, fourth, was first reached in 1881.

1,487,297 Georges are on the American record

That is the sum of every yearly count in Social Security's national birth-name data from 1880 to 2025, which lists every name given to five or more babies in a year.

The dragon showed up 500 years late

Images of George and the dragon survive from the 9th century, roughly five centuries after his death, and the story was popularised by The Golden Legend, where Etymonline dates its first appearance to the 1200s.

Georgia had its biggest year in 2025

More American girls were named Georgia in 2025 than in any other year on record, at 2,619. Its best rank is far older, 81st in 1882, so the count and the rank point to different eras.

The two registries break ties differently

The England and Wales tables give tied names the same number, so Felix and Joseph both had 811 boys in 2025 and both printed as 59th. American files break ties alphabetically and rank them consecutively instead.

GET INVOLVED

How to Celebrate National George Day

EDITOR'S PICK

Look up where George sits this year

Both countries publish their full lists free, so you can look it up in minutes. Compare the England and Wales table against the American one, and read the counts rather than the ranks, since each rank is only a position inside its own pool.

SEND

Send a greeting to the Georges you know

This is how the day actually runs, on posts and messages rather than events. Include the Georgias and Georginas, as the Manchester Evening News did.

READ

Read what is actually documented about the saint

Very little of the familiar picture turns out to be. English Heritage sets out which parts of the story the record supports and which were added later.

TRACE

Trace a George back through your own family

A name this steady turns up in almost every generation of an English speaking family tree. Start from the oldest George you can name and work forward, noting when the family stopped using it.

COOK

Cook something a farmer would recognise

The name is agricultural at its root, so bread, roots and greens suit it better than a cake. Serve it to a George and let them work out why.

Test your knowledge

How well do you know National George Day?

1 / 8

What does the name George literally mean?

Answer

No. It is an unofficial observance with no legal standing anywhere that could be found, so it is a normal working day. The only United States federal holiday named for a George is Washington's Birthday, which the law calls by that name and which falls on the third Monday in February.

COLOPHON

Sources

How we know what’s on this page. References, not endorsements.

13sources
9primary records
5independently dated
Primary records
Social Security Administration2026
National data on the relative frequency of given names in the population of U.S. births
Every US birth name given to five or more babies, by sex and year, from 1880.
View source
Office for National Statistics2026-07-09
Baby names for boys in England and Wales: 2025
Ranked counts of every boys' name registered in England and Wales, down to three births.
View source
Office for National Statistics2025-07-31
Top 100 baby names in England and Wales: historical data, 1904 to 2024
The hundred most common boys' and girls' names at ten-year intervals since 1904.
View source
The Royal Family
George I (r. 1714-1727)
The Hanoverian succession and the Act of Settlement claim that put him on the throne.
View source
The Royal Family
George IV (r. 1820-1830)
The reign that closed the run of four consecutive King Georges.
View source
The Royal Family
George V (r. 1910-1936)
His 1910 accession, the 1911 coronation and the 1917 change of family name to Windsor.
View source
The Royal Family
George VI (r.1936-1952)
The wartime reign that created the George Cross and George Medal.
View source
US Office of Personnel Management
Federal Holidays
The federal holiday list and the statutory name Washington's Birthday under 5 U.S.C. 6103.
View source
Federal Register
Documents search: National George Day
A full-text search of federal documents, returning nothing under this name.
View source
Additional coverage
English Heritage
9 things you didn't know about St George
The historical saint, his 23 April feast, and how late the dragon and the flag arrived.
View source
Online Etymology Dictionary
George
The Greek root georgos and the name's late spread in England.
View source
Manchester Evening News2025-05-25
It's national George day
A British newsroom greeting the Georges, Georgias and Georginas on 25 May 2025.
View source
Instagram2025-05-25
International George Day is observed on May 25 annually
A public post using the day's alternative name and its hashtag.
View source
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