Slovak Last Name Generator

Browse 500 real Slovak surnames with diacritics, from Horváth, Kováč, Varga and Tóth to Slovak-formed names like Hudák, Mihálik, Šimko and Oravec, plus feminine examples such as Ondrušová.

About Slovak last names

The ten surnames usually named as the most common in Slovakia are Horváth, Kováč, Varga, Tóth, Nagy, Baláž, Szabó, Molnár, Balog and Lukáč, and most of them came through Hungarian. The country was part of the Kingdom of Hungary until 1918, so Horváth (Croat), Tóth (an old Hungarian word for a Slovak), Nagy (big), Szabó (tailor) and Molnár (miller) are everyday Slovak family names, often respelled the Slovak way, as in Farkaš, Kočiš and Mesároš. A surname of this kind says nothing about who carries it today.

The Slovak-formed names are easy to spot by their endings: -ák and -iak (Hudák, Poliak), -ík or -ik (Petrík, Mihálik), -ko (Šimko, Danko), -ovič (Pavlovič), -ec (Oravec) and -ský for a place (Podhradský, Turčanský). Spelling sets them apart from Czech: Slovak writes Kováč, Mlynár and Ružička, uses the letters ľ and ä (Kráľ, Pätoprstý) and never ř, ě or ů.

Women traditionally use a feminine form, usually -ová, while -ský becomes -ská and -ý becomes -á. This list gives masculine base forms and adds 18 feminine examples, such as Ondrušová, Chovancová and Hrabovská, whose masculine forms are not listed a second time. For given names paired with surnames, see the Slovak Name Generator.

How to choose Slovak last names

• Keep the diacritics. Kováč, Šimko and Ďurica change their sound without the marks: č, š and ž are letters of their own, ď, ť, ň and ľ are soft consonants, and an acute accent marks a long vowel.
• Match the form to the character. A man is Hudák, Oravec or Podhradský, and a woman is traditionally Hudáková, Oravcová or Podhradská.
• Use the Slovak spelling, not the Czech one: Kováč and Mlynár, not Kovář and Mlynář. A single ř or ě moves a character across the border.
• Hungarian-origin names fit any Slovak town. Forms that keep Hungarian spelling, such as Szabó, Kiss and Németh, are especially common in the south, while Farkaš and Kočiš show the same names in Slovak spelling.
• For a family that emigrated, drop the marks the way the records did: Kovac, Hudak and Simko are the usual spellings in American documents.

Frequently asked questions

What are the most common Slovak last names?

Horváth, Kováč, Varga, Tóth and Nagy usually lead the rankings, followed by Baláž, Szabó, Molnár, Balog and Lukáč. All ten are in this list. The order shifts a little between sources and years, so treat it as approximate.

Why do so many Slovak surnames come from Hungarian?

Slovakia belonged to the Kingdom of Hungary for centuries, until 1918, and Hungarian words became family names on both sides of the language line. Horváth means Croat, Tóth was a Hungarian word for a Slovak and Varga is a leatherworker, while Kovács is the Slavic word for a smith, kováč in Slovak, borrowed into Hungarian. The name records the history of a word, not the language or ancestry of the family that has it now.

How do feminine Slovak surnames work?

Most add -ová, so a woman from the Hudák family is Hudáková, and names in -ec drop the e, as in Chovancová. Names in -ský take -ská and adjective names change -ý to -á, as in Hrabovská and Veselá. The list holds masculine base forms plus 18 feminine examples, so you can build the other form yourself.

How do Slovak surnames differ from Czech ones?

Many roots are shared, but the spelling differs: Slovak has Kováč, Mlynár and Krajčí where Czech has Kovář, Mlynář and Krejčí, and Slovak never uses ř, ě or ů. Slovakia also has many more Hungarian-origin names, and short forms in -ko such as Šimko, Danko and Vaško are much more common there.

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