Surnames ending in "ICH " and "OVICH" are very common amongst Croatians. However they are just one of many surname suffixes that are in use and still Croatian. Depending on whether written the Croatian way or English version, sometimes a "CH" suffix can sound like a "K". Read on to find out why...
Now, for the interesting topic of Croatian last names, and why a great many of them (or seem to at first) end in ovich, ich, itch and similar endings. (This is not the rule of thumb though. There are a wide variety of surnames in Croatian that do not end in this form. Just as not every Scottish name starts with " Mc ", every Irish name with " O' ", every Italian name ending with " RELLI ", (The Fonz from 'Happy Days" may have something to do with that. Aaaeeey!), every Polish name end in " SKI ", every Ukranian name end in " CHUK " and on and on. There are very many similarities between various Croatian and other Slavic last names. Sometimes surnames from different Slavic countries have the same spelling and pronunciation even. There are even numerous cases, because of the movement of various empires through the centuries, of some Slavic surnames being introduced into non-Slavic countries and vice versa. Or a hybrid surname coming into form and then shared by the Slavic and non-Slavic nations. (There are various examples of this regarding Poland and Germany even, Russia and Baltic countries and Switzerland especially. A common occurrence since the times of the various European empires from centuries ago, which resulted in numerous peoples living in different Empires)
To help explain all this, I added this video below about Hot Russian Tennis Players. Among some other informative tidbits, she will get around to very simply explaining also why many Croatian, and other Slavic surnames, (In this case Russian last names) have the very common OVICH (OVIĆ), VICH (VIĆ) and ICH (IĆ) ending in their last names. I guess this can partly be explained by the fact that around 2000 yrs ago there was (more of less) 1 commonly used proto-Slavic language and people (Again, more or less) from which all the Slavic nations evolved from through the centuries. One of the early Croatian native Royal Families was the Trpimirović Dynasty. Then around medieval times, as different tribes/peoples migrated to other parts of Europe to form kingdoms and nations, they still kept a lot of the same naming customs, or made them a part of the surname naming tradition. This common suffix is common in Belarusian as well...
*Note- (Here is an interesting fact for the Croatian surname novice. Back during European empire times, and here I'm focusing on the Croatian lands,..there are numerous examples of Croatian names being Italianized, Germanized, Hungarianized. This was because, take Italian for example in this case, to move ahead in the intellectual field or as an artist, writer etc...people would Italianize their names for the purpose of furthering their career and future. If a promising poet, painter or sculptor wanted to relocate from the Croatian coastal region, called Dalmatia at times back then, to study at a school in Rome or Venice, (Croatian poet/humanist Marko Marulic is a prime example from the time Venice controlled parts of the Mediterranean) or a person wanted to work on the ships or become a master architect, his chances were far better for success and being accepted if his surname sounded more Italian, then being able to blend in more, so to speak. There are many examples of the same practice taking place vis a vis German, Hungarian. (Sometimes these people studied then worked abroad for the rest of their lives.Unfortunately as was the custom in many places, sometimes they didn't have a choice. Maybe you have Croatian roots in you and don't know it) This kind of practice was very common in those days throughout Europe like I said, but in those cases involving other kinds of surnames. You ever run into a person and think "You don't look Italian, you look German", "You don't look Hungarian, You look Croatian, "You don't look French, You look German" or "You don't look Serbian, You look Turkish", "you don't look Polish, you look Romanian" etc. Read the interesting history of the very common Croatian surname Horvat in relation to the Hungarian used surname of Horvath to see what I mean)
To help explain all this, I added this video below about Hot Russian Tennis Players. Among some other informative tidbits, she will get around to very simply explaining also why many Croatian, and other Slavic surnames, (In this case Russian last names) have the very common OVICH (OVIĆ), VICH (VIĆ) and ICH (IĆ) ending in their last names. I guess this can partly be explained by the fact that around 2000 yrs ago there was (more of less) 1 commonly used proto-Slavic language and people (Again, more or less) from which all the Slavic nations evolved from through the centuries. One of the early Croatian native Royal Families was the Trpimirović Dynasty. Then around medieval times, as different tribes/peoples migrated to other parts of Europe to form kingdoms and nations, they still kept a lot of the same naming customs, or made them a part of the surname naming tradition. This common suffix is common in Belarusian as well...
*Note- (Here is an interesting fact for the Croatian surname novice. Back during European empire times, and here I'm focusing on the Croatian lands,..there are numerous examples of Croatian names being Italianized, Germanized, Hungarianized. This was because, take Italian for example in this case, to move ahead in the intellectual field or as an artist, writer etc...people would Italianize their names for the purpose of furthering their career and future. If a promising poet, painter or sculptor wanted to relocate from the Croatian coastal region, called Dalmatia at times back then, to study at a school in Rome or Venice, (Croatian poet/humanist Marko Marulic is a prime example from the time Venice controlled parts of the Mediterranean) or a person wanted to work on the ships or become a master architect, his chances were far better for success and being accepted if his surname sounded more Italian, then being able to blend in more, so to speak. There are many examples of the same practice taking place vis a vis German, Hungarian. (Sometimes these people studied then worked abroad for the rest of their lives.Unfortunately as was the custom in many places, sometimes they didn't have a choice. Maybe you have Croatian roots in you and don't know it) This kind of practice was very common in those days throughout Europe like I said, but in those cases involving other kinds of surnames. You ever run into a person and think "You don't look Italian, you look German", "You don't look Hungarian, You look Croatian, "You don't look French, You look German" or "You don't look Serbian, You look Turkish", "you don't look Polish, you look Romanian" etc. Read the interesting history of the very common Croatian surname Horvat in relation to the Hungarian used surname of Horvath to see what I mean)
Also, Croatian/Slavic surnames with such endings do not originally include the letter "H". The adding of "H" at the end is sort of an anglicized version, a common occurrence since emigration started to English speaking countries. The adding of the letter "H" in English speaking countries was common so as to keep the "CH" sound, usually added by immigration officials at the time of arrival. (Because there's no letter Ć in the English language) In less frequent cases a "T" was sometimes added giving the English version an "ITCH" ending. Many Croatian/Slavic surnames in English speaking countries that did not have the "H" added, have the "C" pronounced as a "K", like in the surname Brkusic.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Croatian family names
Family names started to appear among Croats in the 12th century. Since the Council of Trent, both the given and family names would be written down.
Origins
Croatian family names have five different origins:
Given names, matronymics and patronymics
Anić, Blažević, Ivanec, Marić, Stipanov...
Anić, Blažević, Ivanec, Marić, Stipanov...
Professional names
Kovač (blacksmith), Klobučar (hatmaker), Lončar (potter), Tkalčić (weaver), Stolar (carpenter)...
Nicknames
Debeljak, Crnić, Obad..
Toponyms
Duvnjak (from Duvno), Kuprešak (from Kupres) , Bosanac (Bosnian), Posavec (from Posavina), Zagorec (from Hrvatsko Zagorje), ...
Ethnic designation
Hrvat, Horvat, Hrvatin, Horvatinčić... (Croat), Čerkez (Circassians), Čeh (Czech), Mađar (Hungarians)...
Frequency
Most frequent Croatian family names are Horvat, Kovačević and Babić.
Sources & Related:: lastname.com/slavic-last-names
www.croatian-genealogy.com/-differences-in-naming-among-croats-and-serbs
Belarusian-language_surnames
documentary-series-about-croatian-kings
Belarusian-language_surnames
documentary-series-about-croatian-kings
Croatian given names
Since their 7th century arrival in today's homeland, Croats have used Slavic names. Through the following centuries, foreign names were also accepted, especially those that mark Christian faith. However, Slavic names remained dominant until the Council of Trent (1545–63) when the Catholic church decided that every Christian should have Christian name instead of native one. This lasted until the 19th century, when Croats again started to use neglected traditional names—especially those of mediæval Croatian kings and dukes. More recently, as a result of globalization, unusual and exotic names of various cultures have also gained in popularity.
Frequency
The most frequently occurring Croatian given names are Ivan (John), Josip (Joseph), Marija (Mary) and Ana (Anne).
In newborns, the trend is to use short names, with some foreign names being more popular than native ones. In Zagreb in 2006, the most common were Luka (Luke), Ivan, Lana and Lucija (Lucy). In 2009, Zagreb birth registrar listed Luka, Marko (Mark), Lana and Petra (feminine form of Petar—Peter) as the most common for newborns. In Dubrovnik in 2008, the most common were Ivan, Luka, Ana, Petra. In Zadar in 2008, the most common were Roko (Roch), Luka, Lana, Petra.
Well known former Croatian tennis player Goran Ivanišević. Photo courtesy of www.thesun.co.uk
Traditional Croatian names are mostly Slavic names
Croatian names have considerable similarities with most other European name systems, and with those of other Slavic peoples in particular. Croatian names usually consist of a given name, followed by a family name.
Some common Croatian names of Slavic origin include:
Feminine:
Berislava, Biserka, Blaga, Blagica, Blaženka, Bogdana, Bogomila, Bogumila, Borka, Borislava, Božena, Božica, Božidarka, Branimira, Branka, Buga, Cvita, Cvijeta, Danica, Davorka, Divna, Dragana, Dragica, Draženka, Dubravka, Dunja, Hrvoja, Hrvojka, Jasenka, Jasna, Ljuba, Ljubica, Mila, Milica, Miljenka, Mislava, Mira, Mirka, Mirna, Mojmira, Morana, Nada, Neda, Nediljka, Nevenka, Nives, Ognjenka, Ranka, Rašeljka, Ratka, Ruža, Ružica, Sanja, Slava, Slavica, Slavenka, Smiljana, Spomenka, Srebrenka, Stanislava, Stana, Stanka, Snješka, Snježana, Sunčana, Sunčica, Svitlana, Svjetlana, Tjeha, Tihana, Tihomila, Tuga, Vedrana, Vera, Verica, Vjera, Vesna, Vjekoslava, Vlasta, Vlatka, Zdenka, Zlata, Zora, Zorica, Zorka, Zrinka, Zrina, Zvjezdana, Zvonimira, Zvonka, Željka, Živka
Masculine:
Berislav, Berivoj, Blago, Bogdan, Bogumil, Bogoljub, Bogomil, Boris, Borislav, Borna, Božetjeh, Božidar, Božo, Bratislav, Budimir, Branimir, Brajko, Branko, Braslav, Bratoljub, Cvitko, Cvjetko, Časlav, Častimir, Čedomir, Dalibor, Damir, Darko, Davor, Desimir, Dobroslav, Dobrovit, Domagoj, Dragan, Drago, Dragoslav, Dragutin, Dražan, Dražen, Držiha, Držislav, Godemir, Gojko, Gojislav, Gojslav, Goran, Grubiša, Hrvatin, Hrvoj, Hrvoje, Hrvoslav, Kazimir, Kažimir, Jasenko, Klonimir, Krešimir, Krševan, Lavoslav, Ljubomir, Ljudevit, Milan, Mile, Milivoj, Milovan, Miljenko, Mirko, Miroslav, Miroš, Mislav, Mladen, Mojmir, Mutimir, Nediljko, Nedjeljko, Nenad, Ognjen, Ostoja, Ozren, Predrag, Pribislav, Prvan, Prvoslav, Prvoš, Radimir, Radomir, Radoš, Rajko, Ranko, Ratimir, Ratko, Rato, Radovan, Radoslav, Siniša, Slaven, Slaviša, Slavoljub, Slavomir, Smiljan, Spomenko, Srebrenko, Srećko, Stanislav, Stanko, Strahimir, Svetoslav, Tihomil, Tihomir, Tješimir, Tomislav, Tomo, Tvrtko, Trpimir, Vatroslav, Većeslav, Vedran, Velimir, Veselko, Vidoslav, Vjekoslav, Vjenceslav, Višeslav, Vitomir, Vjeran, Vladimir, Vlado, Vlatko, Vojmil, Vojnomir, Vuk, Zdenko, Zdeslav, Zdravko, Zorislav, Zoran, Zrinko, Zrinoslav, Zlatko, Zvonimir, Zvonko, Žarko, Želimir, Željko, Živko
General Christian names widely used by Croats (mainly Greek, Latin or Hebrew by origin)
Ana (Anna), Ante (Anthony), Antun (Anthony), Andrija (Andrew), David, Dominik, Grgur (Gregory), Ilija (Elijah), Ivan (John), Jakov (Jacob), Josip (Joseph), Juraj (George), Katarina (Catherine), Luka, Marko (Mark), Marija (Mary), Matej (Matthew), Luka (Luke), Pavao (Paul) , Petar (Peter), Pero (Peter), Silvestar, Šimun (Simon), Stjepan (Stephen)...
Croatian borrowed or foreign names.
Dora, Denis, Karlo (Charles), Mario, Nataša, Robert, Vanja, Viktor...
Popular modern Croatian names.
Popular unconventional Croatian names are generally not declined in the Croatian language, but include: Dolores, Ines, Nives, Doris...
A prime example of the above mentioned "C" pronounced as a "K" scenario. Hockey legend Joe Sakic if he was living in Croatia would have his surname pronounced as "SHak-ICH". The letter "C" and "S" would be written in the Croatian versions as "Ć" and "Š"(Šakić) which gives that "CH" and "SH" sound. However since his surname didn't undergo the adding of "H" by immigration officials when his parents arrived in Canada, (And there being no such letter as "Š" in the English alphabet)... in English speaking countries the suffix eventually comes to sound like a "K". Get it? Got it? Good.
Cause of the change in naming paradigm among South Slavic nations...
Croatian and Serbian names:
Although South Slavic names to a foreginer look and sound indiscernible in terms of nationality, that perception isn't quite correct.
Members of South Slavic nations can often at glance discern whether someone's first (given) name, as well as their surname is of particular's national origin.
Scholars agree that the Great Schism in 1054 which divided medieval Christianity into two opposing branches (which later became known as Roman Catholic Church & Eastern Orthodox Church) played a major role in the development of different naming formulas among Croats and Serbs.
Before the Schism, the pool of names from which newborns were named had been pretty much the same for both nations. But the separation of two Christian branches caused greater Roman and Frankish influences among Croats, whereas Serbs were more influenced by Old Greek & Hebrew cultures.
Confequences of the Great Schism
Croats, because of their Catholic confession, often used names of Catholic saints for naming their children, either in the original Latin form (Benedikt, Dominik, Katarina, Donat, Klement, Lovro, Martin, Urban, Valentin etc) or through a mediating language like Italian (Alfonso, Bernardo, Bruno, Paško, Renata, Roman), French (Rolando, Agneza, Francisko, Leonora), German (Marta, Adalbert, Karlo, Leopold, Vilim) and others. Names in those forms are rare or nonexisting among Serbs.
On the other hand, Serbs accepted names derived from Old Hebrew and Greek: Atanas, Akcentije, Filotije, Arkadije, Nikifor, Jevrem, Timotej, Todosije, Konstantin/Koča etc.
Surnames reflected those differences accordingly. Thus surnames like Valentić, Lovrić, Bernardić, Frančić, Karlović can be considered typically Croatian, whereas surnames like Tanasković, Jevremović, Kočić, Jeftić, Aćimović, Aleksić are typically Serbian.
Slavic
Slavic countries names
Slavic countries are noted for having masculine and feminine versions for many (but not all) of their names. Most of their surnames have suffixes which are found in varying degrees over the different nations. (Of course, many other names do not have suffixes at all.)
Note: the following list does not take regional spelling variations into account.
* -ov / -ev (-ova/-eva): Russia, Bulgaria (sometimes as -iv), Serbia, Croatia (sometimes as -iv); this has been adopted by many non-Slavic peoples of Central Asia who are or have been under Russian rule, such as the Kyrgyz, Uzbeks, Kazakhs, etc. Note that -ev is the soft form of -ov, found after palatalized consonants or sibilants. In English, -ev is also erroneously written after ch, even though it is pronounced -ov (Gorbachev, Khrushchev, etc.)
* -sky (-ska), -ski (-ska), -skiy (-skaya): Poland, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Russia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Macedonia.
* Note that these first two can be combined: -ovsky (-ovska): Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Ukraine.
* -ich, -vich, -vych, -ovich: Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Macedonia, Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine, Russia, occasionally Bulgaria.: Petrović, means Petar’s son. In Russia, where patronyms are used, a person would have two -(ov)ich names in a row; first the patronym, then the family name (see Shostakovich).
Image of the Baška tablet (Bašćanska ploča) in Croatian Glagolitic script, circa 1100. The historic writing on the historic tablet mentions the Croatian King Zvonimir. It was shortly after this time that surnames came into use more frequently, including non-Royalty and everyday people.
* -in (-ina): Russia, Serbia, Bulgaria
* -ko, -nko, -enko: Ukraine, -enkov (-enkova): Russified of Ukrainian origin
* -ak/-ek/-ik (-akova/-ekova/-ikova): Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Belarus, Slovenia, Croatia
* -uk, -yuk: Ukraine
* -ski: Macedonia, Serbia, Bulgaria
If the name has no suffix, it may or may not have a feminine version. Sometimes it has the ending changed (such as the addition of -a). In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, suffixless names, such as those of German origin, are feminized by adding -ová (for example, Schusterová), but this is not done in neighboring Poland, where feminine versions are used only for -ski (-ska) names (this includes -cki and -dzki, which are phonetically -ski preceded by a t or d respectively) and for other adjectival surnames.
Russia Names
A full Russian name consists of personal (given) name, patronymic, and family name (surname).
Most Russian family names originated from patronymics, that is, father’s name usually formed by adding the adjective suffix -ov(a) or -ev(a)). Contemporary patronymics, however, have a substantive suffix -ich for masculine and the adjective suffix -na for feminine.
For example, the proverbial triad of most common Russian surnames follows:
* Ivanov (son of Ivan),
* Petrov (son of Petr),
* Sidorov (son of Sidor).
Feminine forms of these surnames have the ending -a:
* Ivanova (daughter of Ivan),
* Petrova (daughter of Petr),
* Sidorova (daughter of Sidor).
Such a pattern of name formation is not unique to Russia or even to the Eastern and Southern Slavs in general; quite common are also names derived from professions, places of origin, and personal characteristics, with various suffixes (e.g. -in(a) and -sky (-skaia)
Professions:
* kuznets (smith) → Kuznetsov—Kuznetsova
* portnoi (tailor) → Portnov—Portnova
* pastukh (shepherd) → Pastukhov—Pastukhova.
Places of origin:
* Moskva (Moscow) → Moskvin—Moskvina, Moskovsky—Moskovskaia,
* Smolensk → Smolensky—Smolenskaia,
* Riazan → Riazanov—Riazanova.
Personal characteristics:
* tolsty (stout, fat) → Tolstov—Tolstova, Tolstoy—Tolstaya,
* nos (nose) → Nosov—Nosova,
* sedoi (grey-haired or -headed) → Sedov—Sedova.
A considerable number of “artificial” names exists, for example, those given to seminary graduates; such names were based on Great Feasts of the Orthodox Church or Christian virtues.
Great Orthodox Feasts:
* rozhdestvo (Christmas) → Rozhdestvensky—Rozhdestvenskaia,
* voskresenie (Resurrection) → Voskresensky—Voskresenskaia,
* uspenie (Assumption) → Uspensky—Uspenskaia.
Christian virtues:
* philagathos (one who loves goodness) → Dobrolubov—Dobrolubova, Dobrolubsky—Dobrolubskaia,
* philosophos (one who loves wisdom) → Lubomudrov—Lubomudrova,
* theophilos (one who loves God) → Bogolubov—Bogolubova.
Many freed serfs were given surnames after those of their former owners. For example, a serf of the Demidov family might be named Demidovsky, which translates roughly as “belonging to Demidov” or “one of Demidov’s bunch”.
Grammatically, Russian family names follow the same rules as other nouns or adjectives (names ending with -oy, -aya are grammatically adjectives), with exceptions: some names do not change in different cases and have the same form in both genders (for example, Sedykh, Lata).
Polish Names
Main articles: Polish surnames and Polish name
In Poland and most of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, surnames first appeared during the late Middle Ages. They initially denoted the differences between various people living in the same town or village and bearing the same name. The conventions were similar to those of English surnames, using occupations, patronymic descent, geographic origins, or personal characteristics. Thus, early surnames indicating occupation include Karczmarz (“innkeeper”), Kowal (“blacksmith”), “Złotnik” (“gold smith”) and Bednarczyk (“young cooper”), while those indicating patronymic descent include Szczepaniak (“Son of Szczepan), Józefowicz (“Son of Józef), and Kaźmirkiewicz (“Son of Kazimierz”). Similarly, early surnames like Mazur (“the one from Mazury”) indicated geographic origin, while ones like Nowak (“the new one”), Biały (“the pale one”), and Wielgus (“the big one”) indicated personal characteristics.
In the early 16th century, ( the Polish Renaissance), toponymic names became common, especially among the nobility. Initially, the surnames were in a form of “[first name] z (“de”, “of”) [location]“. Later, most surnames were changed to adjective forms, e.g. Jakub Wiślicki (“James of Wiślica”) and Zbigniew Oleśnicki (“Zbigniew of Oleśnica”), with masculine suffixes -ski, -cki, -dzki and -icz or respective feminine suffixes -ska, -cka, -dzka and -icz on the east of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Names formed this way are adjectives grammatically, and therefore change their form depending on gender; for example, Jan Kowalski and Maria Kowalska collectively use the plural Kowalscy.
Names with masculine suffixes -ski, -cki, and -dzki, and corresponding feminine suffixes -ska, -cka, and -dzka became associated with noble origin. Many people from lower classes successively changed their surnames to fit this pattern. This produced many Kowalskis, Bednarskis, Kaczmarskis and so on. Today, although most Polish speakers do not know about noble associations of -ski, -cki, -dzki and -icz endings, such names still somehow sound better to them.
A separate class of surnames derive from the names of noble clans. These are used either as separate names or the first part of a double-barrelled name. Thus, persons named Jan Nieczuja and Krzysztof Nieczuja-Machocki might be related. Similarly, after World War I and World War II, many members of Polish underground organizations adopted their war-time pseudonyms as the first part of their surnames. Edward Rydz thus became Marshal of Poland Edward Śmigły-Rydz and Zdzisław Jeziorański became Jan Nowak-Jeziorański.
A random surname example taken from the Croatian on-line telphone book at: imenik.tportal.hr
