Herodotus, who was the first to tell us about the Macedonians, gives the name of this people as "makedni", which is the Old Kartvelian plural of the noun "makedi". The root here is "kedi" (ქედი), which translates either as "neck" or "mountain ridge". The addition of the personifying prefix "ma-" carries the meaning of "a man with a neck" or "a man from the mountains", which is more likely, since it matches the Macedonian relief perfectly. The word "Macedonia" very likely includes the remains of the Laz toponymic ending "-ona". And not only it, by the way. The same can apply to the names "Estonia", "Letona", and many more.
UPDATE: If you remember, at the very beginning of the project the word "Macedonia" (Makedni) was proposed as a Georgian name with the base "makede". In it the prefix "ma-" would be personifying, and the root would then be "ked". At the same time, for the prefix to work 100%, a verb like "kedua" or "kedapa" (kedeba) is needed. Then "makede" is "the one where kedua does the action".
Then we equated the root with ქედი, which means either "neck" or "mountain range". And we said that "makedni" are either "long-necked" or "mountain dwellers". To be honest, it looked like a C+ (although it should have been mentioned in any case), precisely because "kedi" is not a verb here. Although, deep down we also understand that making "kedua" from "kedi" is the same as making some kind of "necking" from "neck". An automatic process. But after so many years I managed to look at the official etymology. Surprisingly, they are not sure there either. Either "tall" or "highlanders"...
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