Serbian female names are impressive in their diversity. They not only sound beautiful: each female name is filled with a special meaning and has several shortened versions. A special feature of Serbian names is the ability to indicate any version of them in documents.
Pagan origin
Serbs often gave the child a name that had the function of “protection”. They were a superstitious people, and the parents tried to protect the baby from evil spirits by calling him a special name.
Serbian female names of that time and their meaning: Gordana (proud), Tijana (peace), Bozdena, Boyana (battle). The girls were also named according to their personal character traits, given names denoting animals, plants, berries: Senka (shadow), Dzhegoda (strawberry, berry), Srebryanka (silver), Militsa (sweetheart), Slavitsa (glorious), Vedrana (cheerful) , Dejana (enterprising).
Christian origin
In the second half of the 19th century, Christianity came to Serbia from Byzantium. From this time on, residents had to call their children at birth only with canonical names that had ecclesiastical purposes. In origin they were mainly ancient Greek or Roman of the early Christian era.
The girls began to be called: Sofia (wisdom), Natalia, Natasha (church Christmas), Jovana (good God), Angela (angel), Militsa (sweetheart), Iva (from the Slav. “willow tree”), Slavna (magnificent), Valeria (strong), Snezhana (woman of the snow), Yana (pardoned by God), Anna (mercy of God), etc.
For quite a long time, canonical names took root among Serbs, who were accustomed to naming children in their native language.
After 1945, the choice of names became free. This was facilitated by the establishment of socialism throughout Serbia. At this time, names appear based on their own vocabulary.
Features of education
Serbian female names in 20% of cases are formed using the suffix “ka”. In Russian, this suffix gives the word a derogatory connotation, but in Serbia it does not carry any lexical load: Zhivka, Slavyanka, Zdravka, Milinka. In female names there are also suffixes “ina”, “ana”, “itsa” (Snezhana, Yasmina, Slavitsa, Lilyana, Zoritsa). All Serbian female names end in "a".
Girls who were born into noble families were given names consisting of two roots - Dregoslav, Radmila, Negoslav, Negomir. But they were rare, since the compound name was given mainly to men.
Modernity
The most common beautiful Serbian female names in our time: Teodora, Jovana, Iva, Yana, Tatyana, Sara, Katarina, Sofia, Maria, Angela. Some of them borrow when naming their daughters in other countries.
Serbian female names consist of ancient names with Slavic roots and borrowed foreign names of various origins: Greek, Jewish, Roman, Arabic, etc. Traditional Slavic names of the pre-Christian era had a folk character and were formed from various phenomena environment or came from any feature of a newborn child, the time of birth (Bilyana - “grass”, Vedrana - “cheerful”, Ranka - “born at dawn”).
In the ancient Slavic name book of the Serbs, there are many wish names. It was believed that a personal name is a sign on which a person’s life, his fate and character depend. That's why Serbian names for girls they were chosen with meaning, the parents wanted, along with the name, to give the child a wish of love, kindness, beauty, and other feminine virtues: Divna - “wonderful”, Milinka - “grace”, Miryana - “beloved”, Dobracha - “kind”. The main wish was life and health - the first child in a family where there were no children for a long time often received the name Zhivka - “alive”.
In the second half of the 9th century, the Serbs adopted Christianity, the national name book was replenished with an impressive group of Orthodox names in Greek, Roman, Jewish origin. Later the church banned the use of non-canonical names. Names from the calendar, Old and New Testaments have firmly entered Serbian culture and have not lost their relevance for many centuries. New Serbian names were derived from church names. For example, the popular name Jovana these days is female version Hebrew male name John - “mercy of God.”
A significant part of the list of Serbian female names consists of borrowed names of various origins: Greek, Arabic, Russian, Western European. Arabic names came into Serbian culture during the reign Ottoman Empire, are currently used by Muslim Serbs or in international families (Yasmina, Nadiya, Fatima). After 1945, when the country became socialist, the Serbs began to actively use foreign names, including Russian and European. Until now, Serbo-Croatian names are in use, which are equally popular both in Serbia and in Croatia and other Balkan countries - Slovenia, Montenegro: for example, the name Spring came to the Serbs from the Croats and Slovenes and is equally popular among all three nations.
New names
In the middle of the 20th century, neologisms and names of personalities popular in that era - political leaders, astronauts, artists (Jacqueline, Valentina, Dayana) penetrated into Serbia. They were a tribute to the era exotic names: for example, Petoletka (five-year plan).
Beautiful and unusual Serbian female names
The national namebook of the people contains a huge number of beautiful Serbian names for girls. Among them there are ancient Slavic compound names: Radmila - “sweet joy”, Negomira - “tenderness of the world”, Bratislava - “to fight”. Many Serbian names with Slavic roots not only sound beautiful, but also emphasize feminine charm and tenderness: Ljubica - “violet”, Slavana - “magnificent”, Milena - “tender, affectionate”, Snezhana - “woman of the snow”. The wish for beauty were names derived from the names of flowers and fruits - Ruža (Rose), Trešnja (Cherry), Iva (Yew tree).
Sometimes beautiful Serbian female names were formed without morphemes; the name was simply a noun - the name of an object. Such names sound quite unusual - Cherry, Berry, Ela. A rosy-cheeked girl could be originally called Rumenka for her complexion, and one born on Christmas Day could be called Bozhichka.
Popular Serbian female names
The most popular Serbian girl names in Lately– traditional Christian names: Maria, Ana (Serbian form of the name Anna), Sofia, Sarah, Tamara. For many years now, the most common national Serbian name has been the name Milica - “sweetheart”, as well as Nevena - “calendula”, Tijana - “goddess”. Among foreign names, common European ones (Dina, Angela, Daniela), Bulgarian ones (Nikolina), Greek ones (Teodora, Christina). Russian names are in demand and are used in both full and abbreviated versions - Elena, Tatyana, Natasha. The name Ivana, derived from the Russian male name Ivan (from the Hebrew Ioann), became popular.
Modern traditions
Recently, foreign names have become increasingly common among female Serbian names. European names of various origins. The most in demand are Serbian Orthodox female names, which have become traditional for this country. Originally national variants are less common, but do not lose their relevance.
Serbs (Serb. Srbi) are a Slavic people living on the southern side, representatives of this people live in Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro and Croatia, Herzegovina and other countries. Their total population is about 12-13 million people. Their main religion is Orthodoxy. Vernacular - Serbian. Ethnographic groups of Serbs are divided, in total, by dialects of the Serbian language. The most
large group
Shtokavian Serbs. There are also Gorani and other ethnographic groups. The history of Serbia begins to count its beginning in the 6th century, from the moment the western part of the Balkan Peninsula began to be settled by the ancient Slavs.
It is said that many names in ancient times were derived from what families farmed or made. Thus, one can understand that if a family grew tomatoes, then their names slowly became, for example, from paradajze, but Abit are different - so they think.... Some names originated because the ancestors grew flowers, such as lilacs.
Suffix in Serbian surnames
Serbian surnames usually, but not always, have a suffix. By suffix they mean the ending of a surname, for example: IC in Latin and - ић in Cyrillic. Surname endings usually mean "son", as in Scotland they use "Mac" and so on. This system is used not only by the Serbs, but also jointly with other Slavic peoples. There is some estimate that about 2/3 of all Serbs use this system with their surnames. As a result of this, many surnames of equals are not related between families. Surnames that are often used are Nikolic, Jovanovic and Petrovic.
Serbian immigrants to the US or others
English countries
, as a rule, -ich.
Other joint suffixes are the surname -v or -ov which are Slavic possessive suffixes, so Nikola's son now becomes Nikolin, Petrov's son Peter, and Jovan's son Jovanov. Both suffixes are often combined.
The most common surnames are Petrovic, Nikolic and Jovanovic.
List of Serbian surnames:
Aleksic, Adzovic, Andjelic , Anastasijevic Old Andjelkovic
Babic Balasevic Bajic, Banovich Blagojevic Belic Blasevic Bogic Bogdanovich Bogicevic Bozovic Boshkovic Brkic Bulatovic Brnovic Buturovic
Celebic Cavoski Kasic Ckrebic Cicic Cosic Cubrilovic Coslovic Kuruvija Cvijic Cvetkovic
Djapic Djokovic Danicic Davidovic Djordjevic Djorovic Djuric Djurisic Djukanovic Djukic Djurdjevic Djuretic Dobrica Dokic Drac Drljaca Drulovic Dragomanovic Draskovic Dudukovic
Erkocevic
Gojkovic Garasanin Gavrilovich Goranovic Gracanin Grba Gorkic Govedarica Grol Grujic Grlic Grkovic Grujicic
Hrnjak Haravan
Jeftanovic Eftich Janic Jankovic Jevtic Jevremovic Jovanovic Jovic Jigovich Jokanovic Jovovic Jugovic
Kandic Karadzic Kadijevic Kajosevic Karkunica Kojic Kontic Kordic Kolevich Komljenovic Kos Kovacevic Korolevic Kral Kukcenjac
Ljotic Lekovic Lilic Lukovich
Maricic Marinkovic Mandaric Maric Markovich Mihailovich Mijatovic Martic Mihailovich Milankovic Milatovich Milkovic Milosevic Miletic Milic Milutinovich Minich Mitevic Mladic Mirkovic Misic Mladjenovic Moljevic Mrdzha
Nemanjic Nikezic Nacuk Nedic Nikolic Nusic
Ognenovic Ognjenovic Obradovic Obrenovic Ogrijenovic Opacic Ostojic
Pasic Pejovic Panika Pantelic Peric Perisic Petrovic Plavsic Perovic Peza Pokrajac Popov Princip Prodanovic Popovic Pribicevic Prpos Pupovac
Rasic Radanovic Račić Radic Radoncis Radosavijevic Ralevic Randjelovic Radulovic Ragulovic Raić Rankovic Roganovic Rogic Raškovich Raznjatovic
Savicevic Sekulic Santrac Saveljic Seshel Sibincic Skerlic Shlivancanin Simic Simovich Solevic Spasic Srbovic Srebov Spasojevic Srbic Srskic Stambolicha Stankovic Stanovcic Stanisic Stanjevic Stefanovic Stevic Stojanovic Stojadinovic Stojakovic Stojsic Stolicha Suljic Svabic Sujic Svetozar
Todorovic Tadic Telecevic Tucovic Tukovic
Uskokovic Utjesenovic Udovichi Unkovic Uzunovic
Veselin Vidovich Vasich Vasilievich Vukmanovic Vukovich Vukasinov Vujica
Zimojic Zivo (J) Zebic Zecevic inovic Zivkovic Zukic Zhupljanin Zoric Zujovic Zuzoric
Serbs are for all humanity. The contribution of the Serbs played a significant role in the development of science and art. Prominent figures among scientists include Nikola Tesla, Mihailo Pupin, Ruđer Bošković, Jovan Cvijić, Milutin Milanković and Mileva Maric, famous mathematicians Jovan Karamata, Mihailo Petrovic, and Djuro Kurepa; famous composers Stevan Mokranjac and Joseph Runjanin; famous authors Dositej Obradovic Milos Crnjanski, and Ivo Andrić, prolific inventor Ogneslav Kostovi.
The majority of Croatian Serbs were concentrated in the regions of Banija, Korduna, Lika, Northern Dalmatia, Western and Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Srem. Smaller groups of Serbs can also be found elsewhere in Slavonia and Dalmatia, Bilogora, Moslavina, Žumberak, Gorski Kotar and Istria, can also be found in all major cities in Croatia. Serbs in 2001 four counties with a Serb representation of more than 10%: Vukovar-Srem county, Sisak-Moslavina county, Karlovac county.
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Many Slavic peoples tried to protect from evil forces and protect the baby with the help of a name. The meaning of the child's name was associated with faith in the forces of nature or hope for best qualities human nature.
Serbian names are of pagan origin. The main wish for a child is to live, to survive. Therefore, the root “zhivo” was often found in the name of the Serbs: Zhivko, Zhivan, Zhivana, Dabizhiv. The special meaning that was invested in each of the Serbian names is not difficult to understand. They sound very poetic: Slavica, Gordana, Milica, Srebryanka, Slobodan, Radovan.
Names of Serbian princes
Historical sources have preserved the names of noble people of Serbia who lived before the baptism of Serbian tribes in the 9th century. Names very sonorous and majestic- Svevlad, Selemir, Vladin, Ratmir, Vysheslav, Radoslav, Vlastimir, Stroimir. Prince's name contains two roots- it is immediately clear what great hopes and tasks were placed on the child named in this way.
The compound name was the privilege of men. But in noble families, girls sometimes received this name - Negoslava, Negomira, Dregoslava, Radmila.
Baptism in Serbia led to the widespread dissemination of the names of Christian canonized saints. Mainly names of Greek, Roman, Hebrew origin. However, Slavic names are still popular in Serbia.
Feminine names
There are a lot of authentic Serbian female names. It is especially interesting that the same name can be used in different forms. The documents indicate the version of the name that you like: the full name or one of the abbreviations.
The consonance of the Serbian and Russian languages, which have Slavic origin, makes the names of the Serbs completely clear in meaning: Spring, Dubravka, Dushka, Sloboda. Serbian female names and their meanings are sometimes heard almost the same:
- Militsa is sweet.
- Dragana is dear.
- Snezhana - snowy.
- Boyana is brave.
- Gordana is proud.
- Srebryanka - silver.
- Slavitsa is nice.
- Dobritsa is kind.
About general history and the significant influence of Russian culture and literature are reminiscent of female Yugoslav names that came from Russia. They are also popular in Serbia:
- Tatiana.
- Olga.
- Masha.
- Natasha.
- Irina.
Nowadays, when people in the Balkans name their daughters with names of very different origins, the most common ones are not only native Serbian names. The names Sofia, Maria, Angela, Teodora, Katarina, Jovana, Iva, Yana, Tatyana, Sara are very popular in Serbia.
And yet Milica still remains the most popular. Nevena and Tijana are two other particularly favorite names of Serbian origin.
Name options for men
A male name of Serbian origin, like a female one, is even officially used in different forms. For example, Milko. Such a name may be recorded in the owner's passport. But the same name can always be used to call those who have the names in their documents - Milan, Miloslav, Milosh, Milodrag, Miladin, Milovan.
The Slavic root “mil” is very common, and the roots “rad” and “stan” are also common. Their meaning is clear to Russian-speaking people, as is the meaning of other male names. The list of Serbian male names sounds like a list fairy tale characters, reminiscent of pagan times:
- Dusan is the soul.
- Vuk is a wolf.
- Dragan is dear.
- Milan is charming.
- Milorad - joyful.
- Dragoslav is gifted.
- Bratislav is a fighter.
- Vladislav is the owner.
- Radovan - happy.
- Tihomir is peaceful.
- Lyubomir - peaceful, loving.
- Deyan is enterprising.
- Dobrilo - approving.
- Slavolub is magnificent.
- Slobodan is free.
- Gorazd is skillful.
- Goran is a mountain dweller.
- Dabazhiv is a survivor.
As a result of the baptism of Serbia, children began to be named after canonized saints. This tradition has been well established over several centuries, and now the names Nikola, Luka, Lazar, Stefan, Aleksandar are very popular.
More than 90% of Serbs today consider themselves Christians. Nevertheless, old Serbian names are still popular.
The formation of names in Serbia after baptism had another interesting feature. Compound names arose with a Slavic root that included the name of the saint. For example, Nikoslav, Petroslav, Marislav.
Male names that came to Serbia from Russia are Boris, Igor, Ivan, Sasha. Interestingly, it is common in the country short form- Vanya, which became a name for both boys and girls.
But such consonant names - Milos and Miklos - have different origins. Milos is a name with a Slavic root, and Miklos comes from the name of St. Nicholas. It was transformed according to the rules and features familiar to the people native language. It should be taken into account that the owner of the name Milosh is most likely Serbian by nationality. This is a Slavic name. And Miklos is a Hungarian name that has also become a surname.
In general, Balkan names have different origins, including common Slavic, ancient Germanic, ancient Greek, Hebrew and others.
Surname in Serbia
Serbian surnames have a characteristic ending “-ich”: Pavic, Pekić, Cosic, Dučić, Andrić. Most popular surnames came from personal names- Petrovic, Milosevic, Pavlovich, Nikolic, Markovic, Ivanovic. Their main root is taken from the name given at baptism. Surnames with Slavic roots are very expressive - Krasic, Stojanovic, Vranich, Vukic. It is not uncommon, as in other languages, to have surnames reminiscent of a profession - Kolarevich, Kacharovich, Kovačevich.
Attention, TODAY only!
Serbian surnames have certain characteristics that indicate their nationality. At the same time, they are close to all Slavic peoples, which allows us to draw an analogy and show how much they have in common. The article provides examples of the most common and famous names, as well as the rule for their declension.
Features of Serbian surnames
Serbs as a people were formed through the assimilation of the ancient Greeks, descendants of the Roman Empire and Eastern Slavs, who created a South Slavic subgroup that settled in the north-west of the Balkan Peninsula, where local tribes of Illyrians and Dacians lived. For a long time, Croats, Serbs and Bosnians had a single literary language, but since the middle of the 20th century, their own language was created based on the Cyrillic “Vukovica”.
By tradition, the Latin “gajevica” is also used, which brings Serbs closer to other Balkan peoples, whose languages are similar, and there is mutual understanding between the speakers. Today, two-thirds of Serbs live in the lands of the former Yugoslavia (8 million people), including 6 million directly in Serbia. There are another 4 million foreign diaspora, well represented in the United States.
It is distinguished by Serbian surnames, which, as a rule, contain a characteristic suffix - ich, which has a decreasing value. For example, the surname Petrich can be interpreted as little Peter. The suffix is often associated with the word "son": Milkovich is the son of Milko. The difference is fundamental, because 90% of the surnames of Serbian citizens have the suffix - ich.
There are exceptions. For example, a world-famous film director, a native of Sarajevo, considers Orthodox Serbs his ancestors, but his uncharacteristic surname reveals the presence of Muslim roots. 17% also end in - ovich (evich), but their peculiarity is the fact that, as a rule, they owe their origin to baptismal names: Borisevich, Pashkevich, Yurkovich.
Serbian surnames: list of the most popular
A study of the most common surnames in Serbia since 1940 yielded the following results:
- The most used ones come from personal names: Jovanovic, Nikolic, Markovic, Petrovic, Djordjevic, Milosevic, Pavlovich.
- Based on professional activity, personal qualities and other words, the following are popular: Stankovic, Ilic, Stojanovic.
Using the last name as an example, you can see how many famous people are its bearers:
- The now living writer and journalist Radosav Stojanovic, author of the novels “Moonship”, “Angelus” and “Wild Graft”.
- Serbian and Russian actress with the same name Daniela Stojanovic.
- Beginning tennis player Nina Stojanovic.
The research also concerned the most commonly used combinations with male and female names, which most often are of Slavic origin and are not divided into full and diminutive (in the passport you can find both Miloslav, Milan, and Milko). Meet and Orthodox names(although Serbs do not have a tradition of celebrating name days), as well as compounds, “glued together” from two words with a Slavic component (Marislav, Negomira).
The most common Serbian first and last names:
The beauty of sound and famous personalities
Beautiful surnames delight the ears of those who hear and pronounce them. Nothing pleases more than the successes and achievements of fellow citizens glorifying their historical homeland. Today the whole world knows the Australian Nicholas Vujicic, whose lack of limbs did not prevent him from becoming famous and becoming the best motivational speaker of our time, instilling hope in seriously ill people. But few people know that his parents are Serbian emigrants, as evidenced by the surname that sounds today in all languages of the world and has lost its original correct reading - Vujicic.
Beautiful Serbian surnames today belong to hundreds of athletes, cultural and scientific figures. Among them are the best tennis player, football legend Dragan Djajic, NBA center player Vlade Divac, world-class football players Branislav Ivanovic, Bojan Krkic, Milos Krasic, Hollywood beauty Milla Jovovich, composer Goran Bregovic, singer Radmila Karaklajic, the greatest scientist Nikola Tesla, who gave the world X-rays and lasers . By the way, the absence -ich often speaks of belonging to the lands of Vojvodina or Kosovo and Mitohija, where this suffix is less common.
Analogies
The emphasis in long surnames among Serbs, as a rule, falls on the third syllable from the end: Stamenković, Vukobratović, which distinguishes them from representatives of other Slavic nationalities. If the base is the root -vuk, a similar surname in Russian will be formed from the word wolf: Volkov, Volchkov, Volchaninov. For example, Vukic, Vukovich, Vukoslavljevic. The following Serbian surnames also come from the names of animals: Paunovic (peacock), Sharanich (carp), Vranich (crow). Russian analogues: Pavlinov, Karpov, Voronin.
Russian surnames formed from professional activities (Kuznetsov, Bondarev, Karetnikov) correspond to: Kovachevich, Kacharovich, Kolarevich. Other analogies with the underlying words are also interesting. Example: Gromov - Lomich, Lukin - Lukovich, Bezborodov - Chosic, Koldunov - Veshtitsa, Kleymenov - Zhigich.
Declension
Serbian surnames are declined according to the rule of the Russian language, which states that surnames ending in a consonant -h in the feminine gender, the cases do not change:
- I'm following Ana Ivanovic's game.
And in masculine - they bow without fail:
- Nominative (who?): Dusan Ivkovic;
- Genitive (of whom?): Dusan Ivkovic;
- Dative (to whom?): Dušan Ivković;
- Accusative (of whom?): Dusan Ivkovic;
- Creative (by whom?): Dusan Ivkovic;
- Prepositional (about whom?): about Dusan Ivkovic.
