The Georgia typeface (a registered trademark of Microsoft) is one of the most recognizable serif fonts out there. As you might surmise, it is named after the American state, but there’s much more to the story than just that: it was rather whimsically named after a tabloid headline reading Alien Heads Found in Georgia. Apparently, the designer, Matthew Carter, was partially inspired by the lettering on the tabloid headline and wanted to pay homage to it. It’s probably named “Georgia” and not something along the lines of “Alien Heads” because there is a long tradition of naming fonts after places, from Helvetica (the Latin name for Switzerland) to Tahoma (the native name for Mount Rainier in Washington). Stay tuned for more font facts in upcoming days.
