Eristoff Eristavi (ერისთავი). The title means ‘head of the nation’ but translates more accurately as ‘head of a military force’. By the 19th century, five noble families each representing a different part of Georgia were using the name Eristhavi. Prince Ivane Eristoff who first created Eristoff vodka in 1806 was from the northwest province of Racha. A landmark in the history of the Eristoff family and Eristoff vodka came in the late 19th century when Ivane’s great grandson, Prince Alexander Constantine Eristoff moved from Georgia to Saint Petersburg. Prince Alexander went on to enjoy a distinguished military career eventually reaching the
Constantine Sidamon-Eristoff Constantine Sidamon-Eristoff Constantine Sidamon-Eristoff (b.June 28, 1930 – d. December 26, 2011) was an American born Georgian aristocrat and the New York City highway commissioner during the administrations of John V. Lindsay. Constantine was born in New York City into the house of Sidamon-Eristavi, claiming descent from the medieval kings of Alania. He was the son of Prince Simon Sidamon-Eristoff, a Georgian military officer, who emigrated to the United States after the Bolsheviks invaded Georgia in 1921, and Anne Tracy, a descendant of John Bigelow, an American diplomat in the mid-19th century. In 1957 he married Anne Phipps Sidamon-Eristoff, a