In their native tongue, Georgians refer to themselves as the Kartveli and to their country as Sakartvelo. However, the country has long been referred to as ‘Georgia’ in English. This is because the patron saint of the Kartveli is St. George, a Roman soldier who was executed for refusing to recant his Christianity. Historians suggest that when the crusaders came through the region in the Middle Ages, they named the country Georgia after St. George – whose depictions in the art and architecture of the region were inescapable. Others suggest that the various conquerors of Georgia – Persians and Ottomans – named the region after the patron saint of its inhabitants, Gorj and Gurju, respectively. This became Gruzia in Russian, which was then Latinised as Georgia at some point in the Late Middle Ages. Ironically, the popularity of the name George in Europe was inspired by the crusaders visit to Georgia. Inspired by the widespread veneration of George in the East, particularly in Georgia, crusaders started naming their children George, and George became the patron saint of England in 1340.