Degiorgio (family name)
Degiorgio is a family name of multiple origins. It is not known when the name became hereditary.
Royal lineage
The Bagrationi Royal Dynasty reigned over Georgia. Their ascendancy lasted from the early Middle Ages until the early 19th century.
The origin of the Bagrationi dynasty is disputed, as well as the time when they first appeared on Georgian soil. The history of the dynasty is inextricably bound with that of Georgia. They began their rule, in the early 9th century, as presiding princes in historic south-western Georgia and the adjacent Georgian marshlands reconquered from Arabs. Subsequently they restored, in 888, the Georgian kingdom, which prospered from the 11th to the 13th century, bringing several regional polities under its control. Several royal families from Europe, Russia and Asia married with the princes and dukes and duchesses from Georgia.
This period of time, particularly the reigns of David IV (1089–1125) and his great granddaughter Tamar (1184–1213), is celebrated as a “golden age” in the history of Georgia, the era of empire, military exploits, and remarkable achievements in culture. After the fragmentation of their unified feudal state in the late 15th century, the branches of the Bagrationi house ruled the three breakaway Georgian kingdoms – Kartli, Kakheti, and Imereti – until the Russian annexation in the early 19th century. The dynasty persisted in exile as an Imperial Russian noble family until the 1917 February Revolution. The establishment of Soviet rule in Georgia in 1921 forced some members of the family to accept demoted status and loss of property in Georgia; others relocated to Western Europe, although some repatriated after Georgian independence in 1991.
Records in Malta have been found, dating as far back as the 1700s, where De Giorgio forefathers landed on the Island of Malta, and set up a successful trading business.