Numbers

How many

Figures published in different years reflect the natural growth of the surname. On 1 February 1995, 24,797 Beridzes (ბერიძე) were registered in Georgia. By 2008 the number had risen to 24,962, and in 2012 to 26,796. Growth stayed steady in the following years, with 28,289 recorded in 2013 and 29,173 in 2018. Official data from July 2024 put the count at 30,022. The latest figures give 30,113 in May 2025 and 30,149 in September of the same year. In every one of these counts Beridze is the most numerous surname in Georgia.

Source · ავთანდილ სილაგაძე, ანზორ თოთაძე, გვარ-სახელები საქართველოში (თბილისი, 1997), გვ. 12 · Georgian Genealogy · Наиболее часто встречающиеся фамилии в Грузии (CRA, archived 2012) · Беридзе · საქართველოში ყველაზე გავრცელებული გვარი ბერიძეა (ინტერპრესნიუსი, 16.02.2012) · საქართველოში ყველაზე გავრცელებული გვარებია - ბერიძე, მამედოვი და კაპანაძე | ინტერპრესნიუსი · Beridze Surname Origin, Meaning & Last Name History · საქართველოში ყველაზე გავრცელებული სახელები და გვარები ცნობილია | imedinews · რომელი გვარებია გავრცელებული ყველაზე მეტად საქართველოში 2018 წელს | imedinews · ფუჩქი, ნექტარი, კუკუშა - ყველაზე იშვიათი სახელებისა და გვარების სტატისტიკა | Fortuna.ge · Gürcüstanda ən çox hansı soyad yayılmışdır? · რომელია ყველაზე გავრცელებული სახელები და გვარები საქართველოში - ბოლო მონაცემები | BPN · ყველაზე გავრცელებული გვარები საქართველოში · 20 ყველაზე გავრცელებული გვარი საქართველოში - რომელია პირველ ადგილზე: 2024 წლის მონაცემები · marneulifm.ge · 10 ყველაზე გავრცელებული გვარი საქართველოში | BPN · რომელია ყველაზე გავრცელებული სახელ-გვარები საქართველოში? | Sputnik საქართველო · guria.tv

Since when

Reading statistics requires keeping apart the date a figure was compiled and the date it was published. The widely quoted year 1997, for example, is only the date the reference book was printed. Its figures rest on data from 1995. As for historical sources, the Ottoman defters and the Russian imperial censuses of the 19th century used other methods. They mostly counted households, heads of family or males only. The old figures drawn from historical documents therefore cannot be compared with modern national statistics, and setting them against each other as competing counts is artificial.

Source · აჭარის ლივის ვრცელი დავთარი (C0903) · 1886 · აბაშიძე

Where

The largest share of Beridzes (ბერიძე) lives in Adjara (აჭარა). Within Adjara, though, the 1995 data record more Beridzes on the coast and in the lowlands, in Khelvachauri (ხელვაჩაური), Kobuleti (ქობულეთი) and Batumi (ბათუმი), than in Khulo (ხულო). Khulo had 1,126, and there the surname ranked only fifth. The figures 14,192 and 11,935, quoted at various times, are in fact Adjara figures that found their way by mistake into the Georgia or Tbilisi (თბილისი) column of reference works. A modelled estimate by a commercial surname database put the number of Beridzes in Georgia at 21,960 in 2014, with 61 percent of them in Adjara. This is only an algorithmic model.

Source · ავთანდილ სილაგაძე, ანზორ თოთაძე, გვარ-სახელები საქართველოში (თბილისი, 1997), გვ. 12 · 2008 · Beridze Surname Origin, Meaning & Last Name History · 2012

Contradictions

Most contradictions among the published figures have concrete causes. Smaller numbers that are often quoted count men only. Adjara (აჭარა) figures have sometimes been shifted mechanically into national columns. The 1995 figure 24,797 kept being printed by mistake as the most recent count. The 21,960 found on a foreign surname website is only a mathematical model. Some variants remain entirely unexplained. The 21,033 is probably the result of a table copied wrongly. The 19,765 is unexplained as well. The official figure for 2008 is 24,962 Beridzes (ბერიძე), so the 19,765 that circulates on foreign-language websites cannot be reconciled with it and matches no registry source.

Related surnames

One group needs separate treatment. It appears in historical sources under three forms: Beridzashvili (ბერიძაშვილი), Beridzishvili (ბერიძიშვილი) and Beridzeshvili (ბერიძეშვილი). All three spellings are attested and belong under one heading. Reference works, however, have caused confusion over the figure 329. The sources disagree about what the figure counts. Iza Chantladze (იზა ჭანტლაძე) writes of „ბერიძიშვილთა 329 ოჯახი“ [rendering: 329 families of Beridzishvilis], while the Silagadze-Totadze (სილაგაძე-თოთაძე) table gives the same figure as a number of persons. Either way, this is one small group of shared origin that different sources scatter under three different headwords.

• Beridzashvili · 329
• Beridzishvili · —
• Beridzeshvili · —
• Berokaul-ebi · 33
• Berdzeepi · 86
• Berishvilebi · 1 837
• Beraia · 1 742
• Beria · 1 698
• Berulava · 1 463

Diaspora

Beridzes (ბერიძე) also live in a number of other countries. Modelled figures from commercial databases, most of them for 2014, suggest 1,160 Beridzes in Russia, 237 in Ukraine, 217 in Kazakhstan, 208 in Abkhazia (აფხაზეთი), 183 in the Tskhinvali region (ცხინვალის რეგიონი) and 144 in Israel. Against this background the 17 Beridzes recorded in Turkey are very few. The reason is historical. Under a law passed in Turkey in 1934, the population had to take Turkish surnames. Among the Georgians living there, the custom of using a nickname was already established, and in many families it had replaced the original surname before the law was passed. As a result only a handful of people in Turkey officially bear the surname Beridze.

Source · forebears.io · soyadlari.com