1000 Most Common Last Names in Slovakia

Hungarian: occupational name from Hungarian varga ‘cobbler’, ‘shoemaker’. It is also found as a Slovenian surname in easternmost Slovenia. Czech and Slovak: nickname for a miserable or complaining person, from vargat ‘lament’, ‘moan’, ‘complain’. Slovak and Ukrainian: descriptive nickname from varga ‘lip’. Compare Polish Warga.

Hungarian and Jewish (from Hungary): nickname for a large or powerful person, from Hungarian nagy ‘big’. The family name is contrasted with Kiss and was sometimes used to describe the older of two bearers of the same personal name. Indian: variant of Nagi.

Slovak: regional name for someone from the region of Orava in northern Slovakia.

English, French, German, Czech, Slovak, Polish, Ukrainian, Belorussian, Hungarian (Urbán), and Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): from a medieval personal name (Latin Urbanus meaning ‘city dweller’, a derivative of urbs ‘town’, ‘city’). The name was borne by a 4th-century saint, the patron saint of vines, and by seven early popes. The Jewish surname represents an adoption of the Polish personal name.

Czech and Slovak: occupational name for a fiddler, hudec, a derivative of housti ‘to play the fiddle’.

Hungarian (Lackó): from a pet form of the personal name László (see Laszlo). Slovak, Czech (Moravian), Slovenian, and Croatian: from the personal name Lacko, a local form of (V)ladislav. Compare Laszlo.

Polish (Mikula), Ukrainian (Mykula), Czech and Slovak (Mikula): from Slavic forms of the Greek personal name Nikolaos (see Nicholas).

Hungarian: from kis ‘small’, applied as a nickname for a person of small stature or the younger of two bearers of the same personal name. English: from Anglo-Norman French cuisse ‘thigh’ (from Latin coxa), applied as a metonymic occupational name for a maker of leg armor, which was normally of leather. German: variant of Kisch (of Czech origin).

Hungarian and Jewish (from Hungary): nickname for a dark-haired or swarthy person, from Hungarian fekete ‘black’.

Polish and Slovak: from a derivative of the personal name Marek (see Mark). Ukrainian and Slovenian: from the personal name Marko (see Mark) Hungarian (Markó): from a pet form of the personal name Márkus, Hungarian form of Mark.

Czech and Slovak: variant of Sobol.

Polish (Macko), Ukrainian, and Slovak: from a pet form of Polish Maciej, Slovak Matej, or some other Slavic form of Matthew.

Czech: status name for a yeoman farmer or small landowner, Czech zeman (a derivative of zem ‘land’). This is one of the most common Czech surnames.

Hungarian: variant of Balogh. This name is also found in Slovakia, Croatia, and Ukraine.

Norwegian: variant of Sebo. Americanized spelling of Hungarian Szabó (see Szabo).

Hungarian (Tóth): ethnic name for a Slovak or a Slovenian, Hungarian tót. It is also found in Prekmurje, the easternmost part of Slovenia, where it is spelled both Toth and Tot. German: nickname from Middle High German tot ‘death’. German: nickname from Middle High German tote ‘godfather’.

Czech and Slovak: nickname from straka ‘magpie’, probably for a thievish or insolent person. possibly also from Greek Strakas: nickname for a dandy, from Greek straka, literally ‘crack of the whip’, used metaphorically to denote someone concerned to impress with his appearance.

Czech: from a derivative of Chovan.

Polish, Ukrainian, Russian, Czech, Slovak, and Hungarian (Bárány): nickname from baran ‘ram’, borne by either a forceful, lusty man or else by a shepherd. Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): ornamental name from the same word, baran ‘ram’.

Hungarian and Jewish (from Hungary): ethnic name for a Pole, lengyel ‘Polish’. The name was used to denote not only ethnic Poles but also Polish speakers and people who had lived in Poland. The family name is fairly frequent amongst western Ashkenazic Jews from the former Austro-Hungarian province of Galicia.

Czech and Slovak (Nemec): ethnic name for a German or German-speaker, from nemec ‘German’. In Old Czech this word was used to denote any foreigner, being derived from nemý ‘mute’, referring to an inability to speak Czech. This name is also found in Germany. Slovenian: ethnic name from Nemec ‘German’, a derivative of the adjective nem ‘mute’ (see 1). Germans (mainly Bavarians) were brought in large numbers by feudal overlords to the territory of present-day Slovenia and of the early medieval Slovenian state Carantania (present-day Carinthia and Styria, now divided between Austria and Slovenia).

Hungarian (Dankó); Czech and Slovak (Danko); and Slovenian: from a pet form of the personal name Daniel (Hungarian Dániel, Slovenian Danijel). Ukrainian: from a pet form the personal name Danylo (see Daniel). Bulgarian: from a pet form of the personal name Dano.

Romanian, Hungarian (Iván), and Slovak: from the personal name Ivan, eastern Slavic form of John. It may also be a shortened form of a Slovenian or Croatian patronymic derived from the personal name Ivan (i.e. Slovenian Ivanc, Ivancic, or Ivanjko; Croatian Ivancic, Ivanic, Ivancevic).

Hungarian: from balog ‘left-handed’, from bal ‘left’, hence a nickname for a left-handed or clumsy person.

English, Danish, and German: from a short form of the various Germanic compound names with a first element wolf ‘wolf’, or a byname or nickname with this meaning. The wolf was native throughout the forests of Europe, including Britain, until comparatively recently. In ancient and medieval times it played an important role in Germanic mythology, being regarded as one of the sacred beasts of Woden. This name is widespread throughout northern, central, and eastern Europe, as well as in Britain and German-speaking countries. German: habitational name for someone living at a house distinguished by the sign of a wolf, Middle High German wolf. Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the Yiddish male personal name Volf meaning ‘wolf’, which is associated with the Hebrew personal name Binyamin (see Benjamin). This association stems from Jacob’s dying words ‘Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil’ (Genesis 49:27). Irish: variant spelling of Woulfe.

Spanish and Portuguese: either a nickname from vida ‘life’ or possibly from the male personal name Vida(s). Northern Italian: variant of Vita 1. Italian: from the female personal name Vida. Hungarian: patronymic form of the ecclesiastical name Vid, a derivative of Latin Vitus (from vita ‘life’).

German, Dutch (also de Klein(e)) and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from Middle High German, Dutch, German klein ‘small’, or Yiddish kleyn. This was a nickname for a person of small stature, but is also often found as a distinguishing name for a junior male, usually a son, in names such as Kleinhans and Kleinpeter. This name is common and widespread throughout central and eastern Europe.

Slovak, Ukrainian, and Polish: from the personal name Fedor, Greek Theodoros ‘gift of God’ (see Theodore).

Hungarian: from the personal name Jakab, Hungarian form of Jacob.

Slovak and Polish: from a pet form of the personal name Tomas, Polish Tomasz (see Thomas).

Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): variant of Polak.

Hungarian: from the personal name Antal, a Hungarian form of Antonius (see Anthony).

Czech and Slovak: variant of Zeman ‘yeoman farmer’. Jewish (Ashkenazic) variant of Seemann. English: variant spelling of Seaman.

Polish, Czech and Slovak: status name for a steward, bailiff, or tenant farmer, or a village headman, from German Meyer 1. Jewish (Ashkenazic): from a variant of the personal name Meyer (see Meyer 2). German: variant of Macher 2.

Hungarian (Balkó) and Slovak: from a pet form of Balázs (see Balazs) or Bálint (see Balint).

Polish (Sokól), Czech, Slovak, Belorussian, and Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): from Belorussian and Czech sokol, Polish sokól ‘falcon’, hence a metonymic occupational name for a falconer, or a nickname for someone thought to resemble a falcon in some way. As a Jewish name it is generally ornamental.

Hungarian (Timkó): from a pet form of the ecclesiastical name Timót, from a reduced form of Latin Tymotheus.

Czech: from homole ‘cone’, probably a nickname for someone with a pointed or cone-shaped head.

Variant of Hungarian Kurucz.

Hungarian and Jewish (from Hungary): status name from vajda ‘leader’, ‘governor’, a word of Slavic origin. The Hungarian name is especially common in Transylvania, where, before the creation of the independent Hungarian principality, the term had denoted the highest ranking administrative and military leader. In medieval times various Romanian village leaders, as well as the leaders of gypsy caravans, were also called vajda. As a Jewish name it was ornamental or a name taken by a rabbi.

Polish (Zajac) and Czech and Slovak: from Polish zajac ‘hare’, Czech dialect zajac (see Zajic), a nickname for a swift runner or a shy person.

Hungarian: from the old secular personal name (later also ecclesiastical name) Farkas. Hungarian: nickname from farkas ‘wolf’. Slovenian, Czech, and Slovak (Farkaš): nickname from Old Slavic farkaš ‘wolf’, a word of Hungarian origin. Jewish (from Hungary): translation of the Yiddish personal name Volf meaning ‘wolf’, or else an ornamental adoption of the Hungarian word.

Italian: from a dialect form of the personal name Pietro (from Latin Petrus). Greek: shortened form of Petropoulos or some other derivative of Petros, Greek form of Peter. Dutch: variant of Petrus. Hungarian (Petro): from a pet form of the personal name Péter (see Peter).

Polish: nickname for an emotional person, from a derivative of the Polish dialect verb sopkac ‘to breathe heavily’, ‘to wheeze’.

Slovak (Uhrín): ethnic name for a Hungarian.

Polish and Slovak: from a vernacular pet form of the personal name Bartolomaeus (see Bartholomew).

English, French, German, Italian (Venetian), Polish, Czech and Slovak (Fabián), and Hungarian (Fábián): from a personal name, Latin Fabianus, a derivative of the Roman family name Fabius. The personal name achieved considerable popularity in Europe in the Middle Ages, having been borne by a 3rd-century pope and saint. Americanized or Italianized spelling of Slovenian Fabjan or Fabijan (see 1). Jewish: adoption of the non-Jewish surname under the influence of the Yiddish personal name Fayvish.

Czech (also Zachar) and Slovak: from the personal name Zachariáš (see Zacharias). Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): from the personal name Zakhar, the eastern Slavic equivalent of Zacharias.

Czech and Slovak: derivative of the personal name Jakub.

Czech and Slovak: from a pet form of the personal name Adam.

Scottish: reduced form of McGregor. German: from the personal name Gregor, a vernacular form of Latin Gregorius (see Gregory). This surname has also been adopted by Ashkenazic Jews. It is also found as a family name in Slovenian and other Slavic languages. In some cases it may be a reduced form of the Slovenian patronymic Gregorcic.

German (Bavaria, Tyrol) and Dutch: from Middle High German pap ‘baby food’ and Dutch pap ‘porridge’, ‘pap’, hence perhaps a nickname denoting someone who had lost his teeth or subsisted on a meagre diet. Hungarian: from pap ‘priest’, probably an occupational name for someone in the service of a priest or a nickname for a pious person.

Czech, Slovak, and Polish: from a derivative of the personal name Michal (Czech), Michal (Polish) (see Michael).

Hungarian (also found in Poland): from the personal name Ferenc, a vernacular form of Latin Franciscus (see Francis).

Polish, Ukrainian, Czech dialect, and Slovak: nickname from mucha ‘fly’, denoting an irritating person or someone considered of no importance.

Czech: metathesized form of Havran.

Polish, Czech, Slovak, and German: from a derivative of Kuba, a pet form of the personal name Jakub (see Jacob).

Polish, Czech, and Slovak: from the West Slavic personal name Marek, a vernacular form of Latin Marcus (see Mark). Czech: from a pet form of the personal name Martin.

Hungarian (Palkó): from a pet form of the personal name Pál, Hungarian form of Paul. Slovak and Ukrainian: derivative of the personal name Palo, Pavel (see Paul).

Polish: from a pet form of the personal name Stanislaw (see Stanislaw). Slovenian and Slovak: from the personal name Stanko, pet form of Stanislav (see Stanislaw).

Hungarian: from a pet form of the personal name Konrád (see Konrad).

Catalan (Orós): possibly from an old personal name name, Orosius, which was borne by a 4th-century theologian and disciple of St. Augustine. Aragonese (Orós): habitational name from Orós in Uesca province. Hungarian: from the old secular name Oros, or possibly an Americanized spelling of Orosz.

Italian (Friuli): variant of Valente. Slovenian: from an old short form of the personal name Valentin, Latin Valentinus (see Valentine).

topographic name for someone living by a blackthorn (sloe) bush, Czech trnka. nickname for someone with eyes as dark as sloes, from the same word in a transferred sense.

German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name from Middle High German smit, German Schmied ‘blacksmith’. The German surname is found in many other parts of Europe, from Slovenia to Sweden.

Czech and Slovak: from a pet form of the personal name Tomáš (see Thomas). Irish: reduced form of O’Toman, an Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Tuamáin ‘descendant of Tuamán’, a personal name based on a diminutive of tuaim ‘hill’.

Hungarian: from a short form of Ballabás, variant of the personal name Barnabás (see Barnaby). Italian: from balla, which in its earliest sense meant ‘dance’ but from the 14th century was used to denote ‘goods packed for transport’, ‘bale’, ‘bundle (of merchandise)’ and was hence probably a metonymic occupational name for a carrier.

Hungarian (Ferkó), Polish, and Slovenian: from a pet form of the Hungarian personal name Ferenc.

Finnish (Hätälä): of uncertain origin; perhaps from a nickname based on hätä ‘hurry’, ‘scurry’ + the local suffix -la. Alternatively, the element hätä may be derived from a foreign personal name.

Czech (Repka) and Slovak: diminutive of Czech Repa (see Repa). This name is also found in Germany.

Polish, Czech, and Slovak: from kapusta ‘cabbage’, hence a metonymic occupational name for a cabbage grower or a nickname for someone with a peculiarity of the head.

Czech and Slovak: nickname for a foster child, chovan, a derivative of the verb chovat ‘to bring up’.

From the Biblical personal name Adam, which was borne, according to Genesis, by the first man. It is the generic Hebrew term for ‘man’, probably from Hebrew adama ‘earth’. Compare the classical Greek legend that Zeus fashioned the first human beings from earth. It was very popular as a personal name among non-Jews throughout Europe in the Middle Ages, and the surname is found in one form or another in most of the countries of Europe. Jews, however, have never used this personal name, except in recent times under Polish and English influence. Among Scottish and Irish bearers it is sometimes a reduced form of McAdam.

Polish (Karas); Hungarian (Kárász); Czech, Slovak, Croatian, Slovenian (Prekmurje), and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from Slavic karas ‘crucian carp’, hence a metonymic occupational name for a carp fisher or possibly a nickname for someone with a fishlike appearance. As a Jewish name it is mainly an ornamental name. Greek: from a nickname meaning ‘black’ (see Caras). Hungarian: topographic name for someone living by the Karas river, a tributary of the river Danube, named with Turkish kara ‘black’ + sug ‘water’. German: from a short form of the personal name Zacharias or of the Greek saint’s name Makarios, meaning ‘blessed one’.

Czech, Slovak, Slovenian, and Hungarian: occupational name from kupec ‘merchant’, ‘shopkeeper’, a derivative of the Slavic verb kupit ‘to buy’. Czech: from a reduced pet form of Jakub, Czech form of Jacob.

German: of undetermined, possibly Slavic, origin. It could also be an Americanized spelling of French Jacot or a short form of any of the various surnames beginning with the element Jacko- (see below), but the concentration of the name in OH, PA, and TX is suggestive of a German origin.

Polish, Czech, Slovak, and eastern German: from a pet form of a vernacular form of the personal name Bartolomaeus (Czech Bartolomej, Polish Bartlomiej, German Bartolomäus) (see Bartholomew).

"Gallus," the latin word signifies "rooster."Ancient surname from Galicia, but also found in Asturias, Castile, Burgos, Andalusia and Valencia. Derived from latin "galleus" - a cock, rooster, or male fowl.In addition to meaning rooster, this word also means a strong type of pasture.

Hungarian: nickname for a person with curly hair, from fodor ‘curl’.

Southern Italian and Greek (Mitros): from the personal name Mitros (Italian Mitro), a pet form of Greek Demetrios, Italian Demetrio, Dimitri (Latin Demetrius; see Demetriou). In Greek this element is also found as a patronymic in composite names such as Mitrogiannis ‘John son of Mitros’, Mitrogiorgos ‘George son of Mitros’, and Mitrothanassis ‘Athanasios son of Mitros’, and in patronymics such as Mitropoulos. Czech and Slovak: from Mít, a short form of the personal names Metodej or Dmitrij.

Czech and Polish: from a pet form of the personal name Matej (see Matthew). Czech: nickname from the vocabulary word matula ‘butterfly’. Polish and Ukrainian: nickname from matula ‘little mother’, ‘mummy’, a pet form of matka ‘mother’.

Czech: status name meaning ‘stepson’.

Polish (Juszko): from a pet form of any of the personal names Just, Justyn (see Justin), or Julian.

Czech (Repa) and Slovak: nickname from the vocabulary word repa ‘turnip’. Hungarian (Répa): from Hungarian répa ‘carrot’, a derivative of the Slavic word in 1 above; a nickname for someone with carrot-colored hair or for a slow-witted person.

unflattering nickname for a moaner, from a derivative of labiedzic ‘to complain’. (Labuda): nickname for an impoverished person, from a derivative of labudac ‘to scrape (things) together’, ‘be hard up’.

Czech and Slovak: pet form of the personal name Valentin (see Valentine). Hungarian (Valkó): from a pet form of the personal name Valér, from Latin Valerius (see Valerio). Hungarian: probably also a habitational name from any of various places called Valkó or a regional name from a former county so named, although in this case the correct form of the surname would be with the suffix -i (i.e. Valkói or Valkai).

Romanian, Polish, Czech, and other European: from the personal name Filip, a vernacular form of the Greek personal name Philippos (see Philip).

Slovak (also Fillo): from a pet form of the personal name Filip (see Philip).

English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish (Simón), Czech and Slovak (Šimon), Slovenian, Hungarian, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the personal name, Hebrew Shim‘on, which is probably derived from the verb sham‘a ‘to hearken’. In the Vulgate and in many vernacular versions of the Old Testament, this is usually rendered Simeon. In the Greek New Testament, however, the name occurs as Simon, as a result of assimilation to the pre-existing Greek byname Simon (from simos ‘snub-nosed’). Both Simon and Simeon were in use as personal names in western Europe from the Middle Ages onward. In Christendom the former was always more popular, at least in part because of its associations with the apostle Simon Peter, the brother of Andrew. In Britain there was also confusion from an early date with Anglo-Scandinavian forms of Sigmund (see Siegmund), a name whose popularity was reinforced at the Conquest by the Norman form Simund.

Hungarian: occupational name from katona ‘soldier’ (from Byzantine Greek katouna ‘tent’, ‘camp’).

Ukrainian: from the personal name Franko, a vernacular form of Latin Franciscus (see Francis). Polish, Czech and Slovak, and Slovenian: from a pet form of the Polish personal name Franciszek, or Czech and Slovak František, or Slovenian Francisšek, vernacular forms of Latin Franciscus (see Francis). As a Slovenian surname it may also be a derivative of the personal name Frank (see Frank 2), formed with the diminutive suffix -ko. Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): from a Slavicized form of the personal name Frank.

Serbian and Croatian (Jankovic); Slovenian (Jankovic): see Jankovic.

Hungarian (Horváth) and Jewish (from Hungary): ethnic name for a Croat, from Hungarian Horvát (Croatian Hrvat). Compare Horvat. Additionally, this is found as a nickname for a Hungarian who lived in Croatia, who had dealings with Croatia, or who often traveled there. The Croats were one of the Slavic peoples who settled in what was then the Roman province of Pannonia in the 7th century ad. From 1091 to 1526 Croatia was under Hungarian rule. As a Jewish name, this indicates provenance from Croatia.

German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for a person with red hair, from Middle High German rot, German rot ‘red’. As a Jewish surname it is also at least partly ornamental: its frequency as a Jewish surname is disproportionate to the number of Jews who, one may reasonably assume, were red-headed during the period of surname adoption. German and English: topographic name for someone who lived on land that had been cleared, Old High German rod, Old English rod, roð. German: from a short form of any of the various Germanic personal names with the first element hrod ‘renown’. Compare Rode 1, Ross 3.

Czech (Franek): from a reduced form of the personal name František, a vernacular form of Latin Franciscus (see Francis).

Hungarian (Mikó): from a pet form of the personal names Miklós (Hungarian form of Nicholas) or Mihály (Hungarian form of Michael).

German (also Hänzel), Czech, etc.: from the personal name Hansel, a pet form of the personal name Johannes (see John).

Hungarian (Mihók): from a pet form of Mihály, Hungarian form of Michael.

Hungarian: from the personal name Kelemen, Hungarian form of Clement.

Polish, Slovak, and eastern German (of Slavic origin): from Polish, Sorbian krupa ‘barley’, hence a metonymic occupational name for a dealer in barley. Czech: variant of Kroupa.

Polish and eastern German: variant of Greger.

French: from the personal name (a popular form of Marcian), derived from the Latin family name Marcianus, popularized through the cult of a local saint. Polish: from the personal name Marcin (see Martin).

Czech and Slovak, Croatian and Serbian, Slovenian, Hungarian (Novák), and Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): from Slavic novy ‘new’, denoting a newcomer to a place. Compare English Newman. Slovenian: also a topographic name for a peasant who settled on newly cleared land.

French: from a variant or pet form of Matthias (see Matthew). English: patronymic from a pet form of Matthew. Greek: see Mates. Hungarian (Mátis): from Mátis, or Matis, pet forms of the personal name Máté, Hungarian form of Matthew. Czech and Slovak: variant of Matas. Variant of Lithuanian Maty~s, from the personal name Matas. Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Mates.

Polish and Czech: occupational name or nickname for a worker in a kitchen, from kuchta ‘scullery maid’, ‘skivvy’.

Hungarian (Jámbor): from jámbor ‘godly’, ‘modest’, ‘well-disposed’, hence a nickname for a humble and friendly person.

Polish: occupational name for a drover, from a term borrowed from Hungarian (see Hajdu), which was also used to denote a Hungarian foot soldier in the Polish army in the 16th century.

English: habitational name from any of several places so called, principally in Lincolnshire, Warwickshire, and North Yorkshire, named in Old English as ‘settlement by a lake’ (from mere or mær ‘pool’, ‘lake’ + tun ‘settlement’) or as ‘settlement by a boundary’ (from (ge)mære ‘boundary’ + tun ‘settlement’). Compare Martin 2. Hungarian (Márton): from the Hungarian personal name Márton (see Martin 1).

Polish and Jewish (from Poland): from Polish sojka, sójka ‘jay’, applied as a nickname, or, among Jews, as an ornamental surname.

Of uncertain origin. It occurs occasionally as a surname in England and Ireland, Italy, and Hungary, most probably being derived from the female personal name Anna, which comes through Latin and Greek from the Biblical Hebrew name Hanna.

Czech (Moravian) and Slovak Kovác), Slovak, Slovenian, Serbian, and Croatian (all Kovac): occupational name from Slavic kovac ‘smith’.

German: occupational name for a weaver or cloth merchant, from an agent derivative of Middle High German timit, dimit denoting a type of cloth woven with double thread. Czech and Slovak: from the personal name Demeter, derived from Greek Demetrios (Latin Demetrius; see Demetriou). Hungarian: from the ecclesiastical name Demeter, or Dömötör, from Greek Demetrios (Latin Demetrius; see Demetriou).

Ukrainian and Belorussian: from the personal name Kuzma, Greek Kosmas, a derivative of kosmos ‘universe’, ‘(ordered) arrangement’. St. Cosmas, martyred with his brother Damian in Cilicia in the early 4th century ad, came to be widely revered in the Eastern Church. Slovenian (also Küzma): from the personal name Kuzma, Küzma, dialect forms of Kozma, Greek Kosmas (see 1 above). The spelling Küzma come from easternmost Slovenia.

Czech: nickname from Czech kulich ‘little owl’. Altered spelling of German Kühlich, a derivative of a Germanic personal name formed with a cognate of Old Norse kollir ‘helmet’. Respelling of German Küllich, a topographic name for someone living near a dung pit, cesspool, or stagnant water, Middle High German hülwe, hü(e)l.

Greek (Gogas) and Albanian: nickname from Albanian kokë ‘head’.

Polish: from a pet form of the personal name Jan, a vernacular form of Latin Johannes (see John).

Czech, Slovak, and Ukrainian: from a derivative of the personal name Martin.

Hungarian: ethnic name from the vocabulary word magyar ‘Hungarian’. The name was most often given to Hungarians who lived in nationally mixed rural areas, for example Transylvania. The ethnic name originates from the ancient Megyer tribe, one of the most powerful Hungarian clans which occupied the Carpathian basin in late Roman times. The Magyar people came originally from the Urals, but between the 5th and 9th centuries they lived in the north Caucasus and were closely associated with the Turkic peoples there. They were forced to migrate westward and settled in their present territory at the end of the 9th century.

Czech, Ukrainian, Belorussian, and Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): nickname from Czech, Ukrainian, and Belorussian holub ‘dove’, ultimately related to Latin columba (see Colomb), denoting a mild-mannered or peace-loving man. As a Jewish name it is mainly ornamental.

Polish, Ukrainian, Czech, and Slovak: nickname for a player of the bagpipes, from Slavic duda ‘bagpipe’. Czech: nickname for someone thought to resemble a hoopoe (dudek). Hungarian: from the old secular personal name Duda, or in some cases possibly a shortened form of Dudás (see Dudas).

Polish and Czech: from a derivative of the personal name Kuba, a pet form of Jakub (see Jacob).

Czech: from a pet form of the personal name Pavel (see Paul).

Czech (Vanek): from a pet form of the Old Czech name Veceslav (see Vacek).

Czech and Slovak: from pleva ‘husk’, ‘shell’, an unflattering nickname for someone regarded as lightweight or worthless.

Czech: from the personal name Kliment, from Latin Clemens (see Clement).

Serbian and Croatian (Babic); Slovenian, Czech, and Slovak (all Babic): metronymic or a nickname from baba ‘(old) woman’, ‘grandmother’, denoting a descendant of an older woman, or a child raised by a grandmother. With a long rising accent, this is a Bosnian name from Turkish babo ‘grandfather’. Compare Babich.

South German: occupational name for a flax grower or seller, from Middle High German har ‘flax’ + the agent suffix -er.

Croatian (northwestern Croatia): nickname from herceg ‘duke’, from the Hungarian form of German Herzog. Herceg was the title of the medieval feudal lords of Herzegovina.

Hungarian: ethnic name for a Russian, orosz, from Turkish urus, in turn derived from Russian Rusak ‘Russian’, which owes its origin to a Scandinavian term meaning ‘oarsman’, ‘rower’ (a reference to the fact that the Russian state was first established by Scandinavians who rowed their ships inland from the Baltic sea).

Hungarian: variant spelling of Budai. Slovak and Ukrainian (Budaj): from a short form of the personal names Budimir or Budislav.

Ukrainian: nickname from a derivative of prybylyj ‘newcomer’.

German: occupational name or status name for an arbiter or judge, Middle High German rihtære (from rihten ‘to make right’). The term was used in the Middle Ages mostly to denote a part-time legal official. Such communal conciliators held a position of considerable esteem in rural communities; in eastern Germany the term came to denote a village headman, which was often a hereditary office. It is in this region that the surname is most frequent. Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a rabbinic judge, from modern German Richter ‘judge’ (see 1 above). See also Dayan.

Ukrainian: from a derivative of the personal name Michal.

Slovak (also Fecko): from a pet form of the personal name Fedor. Altered spelling of Polish Feczko, Fiecko, or Fiecko, cognates of 1.

Czech: nickname for someone with black hair, from havran ‘raven’, ‘rook’.

Hungarian: unexplained.

Catalan, French, English, German (also Romann), Polish, Hungarian (Román), Romanian, Ukrainian, and Belorussian: from the Latin personal name Romanus, which originally meant ‘Roman’. This name was borne by several saints, including a 7th-century bishop of Rouen. English, French, and Catalan: regional or ethnic name for someone from Rome or from Italy in general, or a nickname for someone who had some connection with Rome, as for example having been there on a pilgrimage. Compare Romero.

Polish and Slovak: from a pet form of a personal name, Polish Dymitr and Slovak Demeter, from Greek Demetrios (Latin Demetrius; see Demetriou). Ukrainian: from a pet form of a personal name Demjan (see Damian).

Czech and Slovak (Hanuš): from the old personal name Hanuš or an aphetic form of Johannes (see John). Dutch: from an aphetic form of the personal name Johannes (see John).

Italian and Hungarian: from the personal name Berta, a short form of the various Germanic compound personal names formed with berht ‘bright’, ‘famous’. Hungarian: from a short form of the personal name Bertalan, Hungarian form of Bartholomew.

German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for someone with curly hair, from Middle High German krus ‘curly’, ‘crinkly’, German kraus.

English, French, North German, Danish, Catalan, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, Slovenian, etc.: from the personal name Albert, composed of the Germanic elements adal ‘noble’ + berht ‘bright’, ‘famous’. The standard German form is Albrecht. This, in its various forms, was one of the most popular of all European male personal names in the Middle Ages. It was borne by various churchmen, notably St. Albert of Prague, a Bohemian prince who died a martyr in 997 attempting to convert the Prussians to Christianity; also St. Albert the Great (?1193–1280), an Aristotelian theologian and tutor of Thomas Aquinas. It was also the name of princes and military leaders, such as Albert the Bear (1100–70), Margrave of Brandenburg. In more recent times it has been adopted as a Jewish family name.

Czech, Polish, Ukrainian, and Belorussian: from the personal name Prokop, Greek Prokopios, from pro ‘before’, ‘in front’ + kope ‘cut’, originally an omen name meaning ‘success’, ‘prosperity’ but as a Church name taken to mean ‘pioneer’, as it was the name of the first victim of Diocletian’s persecutions in Palestine in ad 303. He is venerated in the Orthodox Church, whence the popularity of the Russian personal name Prokofi. The popularity of the name in central Europe is largely due to a later St. Prokop, patron saint of Bohemia, who founded Sázava abbey in Prague in the 11th century.

Hungarian (Jávor); Croatian, Serbian, Slovenian, and Bosnian: from South Slavic javor ‘maple tree’, which is also found as a Slavic loanword in Hungarian. This is found as a topographic name for someone living near a maple tree, a habitational name from a place named with this word, a personal name, and a nickname.

Czech and Slovak: derivative of the personal name Martin. Slovenian and Croatian (northern and eastern Croatia): diminutive or patronymic from the personal name Martin.

Ukrainian, Belorussian, and Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): variant of Kravets ‘tailor’.

Hungarian: occupational name for a coachman or coachbuilder, from Hungarian kocsi ‘coach’, ‘wagon’, originally kocsi szekér ‘Kocs cart’, from the village of Kocs, where in the 15th century this type of conveyance, with springs, was first made. The modern English word coach and French coche are derived from this Hungarian word, as well as German Kutsche and Czech koci.