Where the Di Giorgi surname comes from
Di Giorgi comes from the name of an ancestor, Giorgio, the Italian George. The name comes from the Greek georgós, “farmer,” and spread with devotion to Saint George, the knight who slays the dragon. The Di in front means “son of,” “of the family of.”
The final i is most likely the Sicilian plural. It doesn’t mark the son of one Giorgio, but “those of Giorgio,” that is, his descendants.
The notary of Mazara
The oldest document with the surname is kept in an archive in western Sicily. It’s nearly fifty years of work by a 17th-century notary, bound in dozens of volumes. And even earlier, a Sicilian book of nobility mentions a family with an almost identical name. The PDF explains what those papers reveal, and why they’re a gold mine for anyone looking for their ancestors.
Where the Di Giorgis live today
Di Giorgi is a Sicilian surname: more than 1,500 people in Italy carry it, and about seven in ten live on the island. Its heart is western Sicily, in the Trapani, Palermo and Agrigento areas. The second group is in Lazio, followed by a small group in Tuscany. Some of the families left with the Sicilian emigration. The map and the countries around the world the Di Giorgis reached are in the PDF.
Variants
Many surnames all over Italy come from the same Giorgio. Di Giorgi is its Sicilian form, in the plural.
FAQ
What does the surname Di Giorgi mean?
“Those of Giorgio,” that is, the descendants of an ancestor named Giorgio. The name comes from the Greek georgós, “farmer,” “one who works the land.”
Is Di Giorgi a Sicilian surname?
Yes. About seven Di Giorgis in ten live in Sicily, mostly in the western part of the island. The second group is in Lazio.
Are Di Giorgi and Di Giorgio the same surname?
They share the same origin. Di Giorgi is most likely the Sicilian plural form of Di Giorgio. De Giorgi, Giorgi and Giorgio also come from the same name.
Are all Di Giorgis related?
No. The surname came from an ancestor’s name, in many different places. To trace your own story you need birth records and parish registers; in the Trapani area notarial records are also precious.
Is the Di Giorgi surname noble?
The surname itself doesn’t indicate nobility. A Sicilian book of nobility mentions a Di Giorgio family, once also Di Giorgi. We don’t know whether all of today’s Di Giorgis descend from that family: most likely not.
Is there a Di Giorgi family coat of arms?
A Sicilian book of nobility assigns a coat of arms to that Di Giorgio family. It was theirs, not every Di Giorgi’s. No single coat of arms belongs to the whole surname.
