Serbian naming customs

See also: Names of the Serbs

This article features the naming culture and names of ethnic Serbs. Serbian names are rendered in the Western name order with the surname placed after the given name. Eastern name order may be used when multiple names appear in a sorted list, particularly in official notes and legal documents when the last name is capitalized (e.g. MILOVANOVIĆ Janko).

Given names

As with most European cultures, a child is given a first name chosen by their parents or is chosen by godparents. The given name comes first, the surname last, e.g. "Željko Popović", where "Željko" is a first name and "Popović" is a family name.

Serbian first names largely originate from Slavic roots: e.g. Slobodan, Miroslav, Vladimir, Zoran, Ljubomir, Vesna, Radmila, Dragan, Milan, Goran, Radomir, Miomir, Branimir, Budimir; see also Slavic names, or the list of Slavic names in the Serbian Wikipedia)

Some may be non-Slavic but chosen to reflect Christian faith. Names of this nature may often originate from Hebrew for Biblical reasons. Christian names include: e.g. Nikola, Ivan, Jovan, Marija, Ana, Mihailo. Along similar lines of non-Slavic names among Christians, the origins for many such names are Greek: e.g. Aleksandar, Filip, Jelena, Katarina, Nikola, Đorđe, Stefan, Petar, Vasilije, Todor. Names of Latin origin include: e.g. Marko, Antonije, Pavle, Srđan, Marina, Natalija, Kornelije. Names of Germanic origin, entering through Russian, include: e.g. Igor, Oliver, Olga.

Examples (table)

Serbian	Derivation	Origin	Meaning	Related (Forms)	Female
Slobodan Слободан		Serbian (Slavic)	Free man	Eleftherios, Sloba	Slobodanka
Miroslav Мирослав		Slavic	Peace and Glory	Mirosław, Mirko	Mira, Miroslava
Vladimir Владимир	Владимѣръ	Slavic Old Church Slavonic	Rule in Peace	Vlada, Vlado	Vladimira, Vlada
Vukašin Вукашин		Slavic	Son of the wolf, younger wolf	Vuki, Vuk, Vule, Vučko, Vukosav	Vuka, Vukica
Zoran Зоран		Slavic	Daybreak	Zoki, Zoća	Zora, Zorana, Zorica
Goran Горан		Slavic	Woodsman, Highlander "The tall one"		Gora, Gorana, Gorica, Goga, Gorjanka
Aleksandar Александар	Aléxandros Αλέξανδρος	Greek	Protector of Man	Aleksa, Saša, Sale	Aleksandra, Saša, Saška
Jovan Jован	Ioannis Ιωάννης	Hebrew (Biblical)	God is gracious	Ivan Jovo, Jovica, Joca, Jole	Jovana, Ivana, Ivanka, Iva
Marko Марко	Marcus	Latin		Maki, Mare
Nikola Никола	Nikolaos Νικόλαος	Greek	Victory of the people	Nidža, Niko	Nikoleta, Nikolina
Đorđe Ђopђe	Georgios Γεώργιος	Greek	Farmer	Đurađ Đuro, Đole, Đoka, Đorđa, Đorđo	Đorđica, Đurđica, Đurđina
Mihajlo Михајло	Mikha'el מִיכָאֵל	Hebrew (Biblical)	"He who is like God"	Mika, Miki, Miha

Surnames

Most Serbian surnames have the surname suffix -ić (-ић) ([itɕ]). This can sometimes further be transcribed as -ic, but in history, Serbian names have often been transcribed with a phonetic ending, -ich or -itch.

This form is often associated with Serbs from before the early 20th century: hence Milutin Milanković is usually referred to, for historical reasons, as Milutin Milankovitch, and Mileva Marić, born in Vojvodina (then a part of Hungary) has sometimes been rendered as Marity (e.g. in the claim of "Einstein-Marity" theory).

The -ić suffix is a Slavic diminutive, originally functioning to create patronymics. Thus the surname Petrović means the little son of Petar (Petrić signifies the little son of Petra, the widow).

Most Serbian surnames are paternal (father), maternal (mother), occupational, or derived from personal traits.

Other common surname suffixes are -ov, -ev, -in and -ski which is the Slavic possessive case suffix, thus Nikola's son becomes Nikolin, Petar's son Petrov, and Jovan's son Jovanov. The two suffixes are often combined, most commonly as -ović. Other, less common suffices are -alj/olj/elj, -ija, -ica, -ar/ac/an, .

When marrying, the woman most often adopts her husband's family name, though she can also keep both of her last names or not change her last name at all.

It is estimated that some two thirds of all Serbian surnames end in -ić. The ten most common surnames in Serbia, in order, are Jovanović, Petrović, Nikolić, Marković, Đorđević, Stojanović, Ilić, Stanković, Pavlović and Milošević.

Outside Serbian countries, Slavic suffixes have been transliterated. Serbs in Hungary have the endings -ity -ics -its, Serbs in R. Macedonia -ikj (iḱ, иќ), and Serbs in Romania -ici.

History

The names of Serbian rulers thru Mutimir are Slavic dithematic names, as per Old Slavic tradition, until the 9th century and Christianization after which Christian names appear.

Demetrios Chomatenos (Archbishop of Ohrid from 1216 to 1236) registered the naming culture of the South Slavs in Byzantine lands. In the 11th and 12th century, family names became more common and stable in Byzantium, adapted by the majority of people in Byzantine Macedonia, Epirus and other regions (including women, sometimes even monks), not only aristocrats. The South Slavs, however, maintained the tradition of only giving a personal name, sometimes with a Patronymic. There are only 2 cases of family names used by South Slavs during this time; Bogdanopoulos and Serbopoulos, both Serbian names with the Greek suffix -opoulos (όπουλος, originating in Peloponnese in the 10th century)

In older naming convention which was common in Serbia up until the mid 19th century a person's name would consist of three distinct parts: the person's given name, the patronymic derived from father's personal name, and the family name, as seen in for example in the name of language reformer Vuk Stefanović Karadžić.

See also

• Slavic names
• Slavic surnames

Sources

Books

Journals