Georgia was Georgia O'Keeffe's first name. She was named Georgia Totto O'Keeffe at birth, and Georgia remained the name under which she became one of the best-known American artists of the twentieth century.
Her middle name, Totto, came from her maternal grandfather, George Victor Totto. O'Keeffe generally used Georgia O'Keeffe professionally, rather than a shortened nickname. Her signature and printed name became closely associated with her bold, simplified forms and highly recognizable visual language.
The name Georgia can cause a geographic mix-up because it is also the name of a U.S. state and a country. O'Keeffe, however, was born in Wisconsin and spent her major working years in New York and New Mexico.
She studied art in Chicago and New York, taught in several states, and later settled permanently in New Mexico. Her name therefore appears in the history of American modernism, not as a reference to a place, but as the artist's personal name.