Variants

Spelling

Readers abroad often find the pronunciation and spelling of the surname unfamiliar. The generally accepted Latin form in the passports of Georgian citizens is Beridze (ბერიძე). In Russian it is written Беридзе and does not decline. In the Turkish documents of muhajir descendants the Georgian surname is, as a rule, not recorded at all. Word stress in Georgian is weak, and the letter ძ (dz) stands for a single sound. The name is therefore said in three syllables, be-ri-dze, and never be-rid-ze. In the plural the surname mostly appears as Beridzeebi (ბერიძეები). Official names use the old collective genitive Beridzeta (ბერიძეთა), and poetry has Beridzta (ბერიძთა). In Megrelian speech the form Berdzeepi (ბერძეეფი) became the usual word for the Beridzes. People living abroad should also keep in mind that Beradze (ბერაძე), Berishvili (ბერიშვილი), Beria (ბერია) and Koberidze (კობერიძე) look similar but are entirely different, independent surnames.

Older forms

Historical documents record the surname in a number of different forms. Medieval texts and the Ottoman tax register (defter) of 1595 mostly have the patronymic Berisdze (ბერისძე). A small group living in Kartli-Kakheti (ქართლ-კახეთი) appears in the sources under three names: Beridzashvili (ბერიძაშვილი), Beridzishvili (ბერიძიშვილი) and Beridzeshvili (ბერიძეშვილი). All three refer to one and the same branch. The 1873 census of Partskhisi (ფარცხისი) records this branch as Beridzesshvili (ბერიძესშვილი). Iza Chantladze (იზა ჩანტლაძე) draws attention to a rare way of forming the name, with the suffix -ul (-ულ). A document of 1700 names people called Berauli (ბერაული) and Beriuli (ბერიული), and a small number of Berokaulis (ბეროკაულები) live today. The form Beruli (ბერული) is also found in the 16th-century defters of Adjara (აჭარა). This suggests that the -ul form is a morphological unit in its own right.

Related surnames

Many Georgian surnames grew from the root ber- (ბერ-). According to linguistic studies, both simple and compound names come from this root: Berishvili (ბერიშვილი), Beradze (ბერაძე), Beruashvili (ბერუაშვილი), and also Kakhaberidze (კახაბერიძე) and Gulaberidze (გულაბერიძე). Their kinship, however, is only a matter of language. The Tbeti Book of Souls (ტბეთის სულთა მატიანე) already records Kakhaberisdze (კახაბერისძე) and Tsitelberisdze (წითელბერისძე), and Nikoloz Gulaberisdze (ნიკოლოზ გულაბერისძე) was active in the 10th–11th centuries. This confirms that these forms were built in parallel. They are not surnames that split off from Beridze (ბერიძე). The folk tradition that King Giorgi III (გიორგი III) granted one Beridze the name Kakhaberidze is only a family legend. Names such as Gogiberidze (გოგიბერიძე) or Koberidze (კობერიძე) are likewise linked to the Beridzes only by a shared root.

Surnames on the root ber- →

Correction

One Georgian publication claims that „ბერიძედან წარმოქმნილია 33-ზე მეტი გვარი“ [rendering: more than 33 surnames arose from Beridze]. This view is wrong. Its authors confuse two different things: the large group of surnames built from the root ber- (ბერ-), and branches that split off directly from the surname Beridze (ბერიძე). In fact, surnames such as Berishvili (ბერიშვილი) or Kakhaberidze (კახაბერიძე) arose independently, despite the shared root. The only attested small group regarded as a name derived directly from the surname Beridze is the Beridzeshvilis (ბერიძეშვილები) of Kartli-Kakheti (ქართლ-კახეთი).