The first mention of the name spelled as Georgia is in Italian on the mappa mundi of Pietro

Vesconte dated AD 1320.[14] At the early stage of its appearance in the Latin world, it was not
always written in the same transliteration, and the first consonant was being spelt with J as
Jorgia.[15] Georgia probably stems from the Persian designation of the Georgians – gurğān, in
the 11th and 12th centuries adapted via Syriac gurz-ān/gurz-iyān and Arabic ĵurĵan/ĵurzan. Lore-
based theories were given by the traveller Jacques de Vitry, who explained the name's origin by
the popularity of St. George amongst Georgians,[16] while traveller Jean Chardin thought that
Georgia came from Greek γεωργός ('tiller of the land'). Alexander Mikaberidze wrote that these
century-old explanations for the word Georgia/Georgians are rejected by the scholarly
community, who point to the Persian word gurğ/gurğān (‫گرگ‬, 'wolf'[17]) as the root of the word.
[18]
Starting with the Persian word gurğ/gurğān, the word was later adopted in numerous other
languages, including Slavic and West European languages.[18][19] This term itself might have been
established through the ancient Iranian appellation of the near-Caspian region, which was
referred to as Gorgan ("land of the wolves").[18][20]

The native name is Sakartvelo (საქართველო; 'land of Kartvelians'), derived from the core
central Georgian region of Kartli, recorded from the 9th century, and in extended usage referring
to the entire medieval Kingdom of Georgia by the 13th century. The self-designation used by
ethnic Georgians is Kartvelebi (ქართველები, i.e. 'Kartvelians'), first attested in the Umm
Leisun inscription found in the Old City of Jerusalem.

The medieval Georgian Chronicles present an eponymous ancestor of the Kartvelians, Kartlos, a