Croatian Last Name Generator

Browse 500 real Croatian surnames with their diacritics, from Horvat, Kovačević and Babić to northern names like Posavec and Petek and Dalmatian, island and Istrian names such as Žuvela, Tudor and Poropat.

About Croatian last names

Croatian surnames are the same for men and women, and most of them end in -ić, a suffix that once meant little or son of: Jurić goes back to Jure, Matić to Mate, and Kovačević to a smith's household. Horvat, which simply means Croat, is usually named as the most common surname in the country and is strongest in the north. Many -ić, -ović and -ević names are shared with Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro, so a name of that kind points to the language and not to one country.

The regions give the list its variety. The Kajkavian north around Zagreb, Zagorje and Međimurje has names in -ec, -ek and -jak, such as Posavec, Vugrinec, Petek and Trstenjak, along with trade names like Pintarić and Šoštarić. Dalmatia and the islands keep short names and Venetian traces: Tudor, Roje, Žuvela, Padovan, Politeo. Istria and Kvarner add Faraguna, Poropat, Žic and Trinajstić, Lika has Rukavina and Brkljačić, and Slavonia carries names of Hungarian and German origin in Croatian spelling, such as Varga, Nađ and Šnajder.

A few old noble and Dubrovnik names (Zrinski, Frankopan, Gundulić) round it out, and every č, ć, š, ž and đ is kept. A surname is word history, not proof of where one person's family comes from.

How to choose Croatian last names

• Keep the diacritics. Č and ć are a hard and a soft "ch", š is "sh", ž is the "s" in "measure" and đ is close to the "j" in "judge", so Žuvela and Đaković change their sound without the marks.
• Match the surname to the region of your character. A Zagorje family might be Hercigonja or Vugrinec, a Korčula family Žuvela or Šeparović, an Istrian one Poropat or Rojnić, and a Lika family Rukavina or Krmpotić.
• Do not change the ending for women. Croatian surnames have one form, so a brother and sister are both Horvat or both Knežević.
• Let a village repeat itself. In small places and on the islands a handful of surnames often covers many households, so two or three families sharing one name reads as true to life.
• For emigrant families, drop the marks or respell the ending. In American records Kovačević commonly became Kovacevich and Babić became Babich.

Frequently asked questions

What are the most common Croatian last names?

Horvat is usually named first, followed by Kovačević, Babić, Marić, Jurić, Novak, Kovačić, Knežević, Vuković and Marković. All ten are in this list. The exact order shifts a little from one census to the next, so treat it as approximate.

What does -ić mean at the end of a Croatian surname?

It is a diminutive ending that came to mean descendant of, and it is pronounced like "itch". Perić goes back to Pero, a short form of Petar, and Grgić to Grga. The longer endings -ović and -ević add a possessive, so Filipović is roughly of Filip's family.

How can I tell a Croatian surname from a Serbian or Bosnian one?

Often you cannot, because the three languages share most of the -ić stock. Some types do lean Croatian: Horvat, the northern -ec and -ek names such as Posavec and Petek, and coastal names like Žuvela, Tudor and Kaliterna. Even so, a surname alone never settles a person's nationality or faith.

Are these surnames real?

The list is meant to hold only surnames that families in Croatia carry, with standard spelling and full diacritics. It was screened for duplicates, so if a name matters for your project, look it up yourself before you rely on it.

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