Slovak Surnames
Surnames in any language can be interesting, particularly when their meaning is easily understood. When I began to learn Slovak and my vocabulary began to expand, I realized that I understood the meanings of many surnames. In English, for example, surnames that are derived from professions, such as Smith or Miller, are simple to comprehend. Descriptive names such as Black or Green are also easy to understand though a name like Jozef Slaný – Joseph Salty still sounds odd to me.
Over the years, I’ve come across some interesting names. Many of them I can simply describe as “cute” though I don’t know how I would feel if I had a surname like Malina – raspberry, for example.
Surnames from professions are common in Slovak:
Kováč – smith
Mlynár – miller
Bača – shepard
Rybár – fisher
Kráľ – king
Pekár – baker
Kuchár – cook
Mäsiar – butcher
Holič – barber
Maliar – painter
Kľúčiar – key maker
Mečiar – sword maker
Sklenár – glass maker
Some peculiar surnames are derived from adjectives:
Čierny – black
Biely – white
Suchý – dry
Mokrý – wet
Slaný – salty
Smutný – sad
Šťastný – happy/lucky
Malý – small
Široký – wide
Tichý – quiet
Surový – raw
Some surnames are so unique they fit into a category all on their own:
Koreň – root
Chren – horseradish
Repa – beet
Slanina – bacon
Polievka – soup
Cibuľka – little onion
Malina – raspberry
Dobrovodský – good water
Holub – pigeon
Chrobák – beetle
Komár – mosquito
Medvedík – little bear
Koleno – knee
Mráz – frost
Okienka – little window
Otčenáš – our father (as in the “Our Father” prayer)
Bezdeda – without a grandpa
Dolina – valley
Kocur – tom cat
Of course, in English we have odd names as well. Take for example the surname Bush. When you tell a Slovak the name George Bush translates to Juraj Krík, you will almost always get laughter as a response. It’s fitting, I suppose. In more ways than one.
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27 Comments on “Slovak Surnames”
Hello Mr. salty, Your list of Slovak surnames was quite interesting and funny. I wonder if you ever came across the name 'Lakatos'? I believe it means one who is a locksmith but I'm not certain. I hope to hear from you soon and God bless all Slovaks :)
January 30th, 2008 at 02:09 PM
Hi Jez, I don't have personal experience with the name "Lakatos" but I found out after doing a little research (thanks Google) that "Lakatos" is a Hungarian surname and does indeed mean "locksmith". Of course since there are many people in Slovakia with Hungarian roots this is a Slovak surname too. Sometimes it is spelled as "Lakatoš". Margarete
January 31st, 2008 at 07:00 AM
What are the most common slovak family names?
February 4th, 2008 at 04:17 PM
According to the Slovak version of Wikipedia, the most common surnames in Slovakia today are Kováč, and Horváth. Kováč means "smith" and Horváth means "Croatian". Interesting. I also know that the most common surname in the Czech Republic is Novák. Novák can be loosely translated as "newman". The name Peter Novák is as common as "John Smith".
February 4th, 2008 at 06:01 PM
I want to go to my "roots" this March. Cna you help me with my family names? Hudak, Salance, Cervenak, and Kachurik. I think my mother told me her mother and father came from Spisska Nova Ves. Does that make sense?
February 4th, 2008 at 07:21 PM
Leslie, the best place to begin research on your Slovak roots is on a site called "It's All Relative", www.iarelative.com. The person who runs the site, his name is Greg Kopchak and he has some experience with Slovak Geneology. You might also be interested in joining the Yahoo group "Slovak-World". Many people who write and communicate on that forum are Americans and Canadians of Slovak and Rusyn descent. Many start out like you do, looking for their roots, and sharing stories along the way. I believe Greg is the founder of Slovak-World. I know "roots" is a common topic. Good Luck! Margarete
February 5th, 2008 at 02:52 AM
Hi, Margarete, great job with the site! I just stumbled upon it and I really like it, and as a native of Slovakia I do appreciate the quality and accuracy of your writing! Thanks a lot! Just for the fun of it, I'd like to "remind" you of one, perhaps not the most common, but definitely rather funny Slovak surname - Tesák, which means the fang (and it's also the name of our dog :)). P.S. Is your book available also in Slovakia?
February 5th, 2008 at 10:58 AM
Hi Eva, what a clever name for a dog :) Thanks for sharing. Regarding book availability in Slovakia, I'm working now to get it into the Panta Rhei bookstore chain. Check in a couple of weeks. Thanks! Margarete
February 5th, 2008 at 04:21 PM
Thank you for posting this. I have had the most difficult time finding information about my family name Omasta. I know that my relatives entered Ellis Island in the early 1900's from a town called Maiava Hungary. I believe this town was in the county of Nyitra which is now part of Slovakia. Would you happen to know of a resource that I can use to research my family name in more depth?
July 30th, 2008 at 05:33 PM
John, I don't have experience with researching family names but it seems that "a town called Maiava" is probably the town of Myjava (pronounced mee-yava) and "Nyitra" is probably the region of Nitra. Myjava, however, is located in the Trenčín region, just north of the Nitra region. There are many reasons for information having been taken down incorrectly at Ellis Island (my grandfather came through Ellis Island with a differently spelled last name), but my guess would be that Myjava is a pretty good bet for a home town. As I recommended to Leslie above, try Greg at www.iarelative.com. Also check out the Yahoo Group "Slovak World".
July 30th, 2008 at 09:10 PM
Hi, Just stumbled on your website and am quite impressed. I am 100% Slovak with surnames KRAJCIK & CERVENY. My grandparents all came from two Slovak villages in Austria/Hungary.
August 4th, 2008 at 01:23 AM
What an interesting article. I run a lettings agency on the southeast coast of England. We have a lot of Slovaks as tenants, and it has always interested me to know what the meaning of their names are. I indeed have a (Mr) Horvath and of course (Mrs) Horvathova. However it was not until recently that i have been trying to learnt the odd word or two of Slovak. I found out that I also have other tenants by the name or Mr and Mrs Winter. Yes a very english name. Their actual names being Zima - Zimova. I currently have two Slovak students lodging with me - short term until they return to University. I am picking up new words daily and practicing my vocab. Will keep in constant watch of the blog. Ciao :)
August 6th, 2008 at 08:04 PM
Hi! My mother is half Slovakian, and the surname used on that side was Majka. We do not know if it was Americanized or not. Do you know if this is truly the Slovak spelling? Or could you find anything similar? Thank you! Lauren
December 31st, 2008 at 12:45 AM
Lauren, When I first read the name "Majka" I immediately thought of the nickname for Maria. Maria is a common first name in Slovakia and often many Marias are called "Maja" (pronounced like Maya) and "Majka" (like Mayka). My mother-in-law, for example, goes by these nicknames. As far as a surname, I've never heard it before. I did a quick search in the Slovak whitepages for the surname Majka in Bratislava, Nitra, and Banska Bystrica -- some of the biggest cities in Slovakia -- and didn't get any results. I'm not quite sure what that means. On the one hand the spelling is correct for a nickname, but on the other hand, I didn't find any results for a surname.
December 31st, 2008 at 02:03 AM
Name "Lakatos" is really "locksmith". This name orginially is Hungarian and not Slovak from linguistics point of you. Due to histrocical reasons this name is quite frequent in the whole Carpathian basin, especially among Hungarians, Gypsies and Slovaks.
January 9th, 2009 at 07:52 PM
Greetings, we've been been following the posts on this site and are thrilled by the flow of usable information. So here's our challenge. We've been trying to "de-anglicize" our surname and our great grandmother's surname. They MAY have come from the Velka Lodina and/or Spiska(?) area. The surname on my ggf's gravestone is Mehal and is spelled that way in the early census records. The spelling changed to Mehall on my gf's gravestone and is the way we spell it now. My ggm's maiden name was either Matko (as we've been told) or Masco as it was spelled in my grandfather's obit. They immigrated from "Austria" in 1890 and settled in PA. We've cast our net as wide as we can but haven't been able to drill deeper than the 1900 census information. We think it's because we can't break the code on the true spelling of the surname. Any recommendations? Thanks. GM
January 24th, 2009 at 10:22 PM
GM, I've written a new blog post on how to do a basic internet search for Slovak surnames. It won't help you find relatives, but if you're curious about what kinds of results show up for your name(s), the post might be helpful. Researching Slovak Surnames.
February 4th, 2009 at 02:46 AM
Do you know what my last name literally means? I just know that it is Slovak. In case you would like to know just a little more about me, I'm a 5th Generation American Citizen. My great great grandfather, Josef Teodore Stropnicky, came from the Slovak area (then part of Empire of Austria-Hungary, present-day independent Slovakia founded much later) in the 1870s. He was subsequently naturalized in the same decade, and the Stropnickies have been Americans ever since then.
April 18th, 2009 at 05:55 AM
Dear John Omasta, your surname is Polish, I guess. 'Omasta' sounds somewhat archaic in Polish but still understood and means acc. to my dictionary 'liquid fat added to plain food.' or the fat that you smear your bread with. As far as I know, omasta typically amounted to either lard or butter. So dumplings or bread with 'omasta' amounted to sth better and more luxurious for peasants than without it. See the distribution - the site is in Polish but the map plus numbers speak for themselves: http://www.moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/omasta.html All in all, it might be you have Polish roots - not really impossible considering that Poland once was more to the east and south, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rzeczpospolita_Rozbiory_3.png as well as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Poland in general. HTH.
May 17th, 2009 at 08:33 PM
Hi William, your last name "Stropnicky" is derived from the word "strop" which means "roof". Your last name can be translated as "one of the roof", or "one who builds/constructs roofs".
May 19th, 2009 at 02:34 PM
I've recently started researching my family history, and although I have a long way to go, this is the first place I've seen that explained the meanings of Slovak names. My name, Marvonek, has always been a big mystery to me. My great grandmother's name was Peknik, which I think has to do with the Slovak word for nice or pretty, some clarification would be helpful. I've looked for Slovak words that resemble my last name, but haven't found any. I found a similar surname, Marvanek, and think maybe it might be from the same root. Any input would be helpful. thanks - fun sight by the way.
July 14th, 2009 at 03:35 AM
Hi i've recently been told that , What i believed was a hungarian surname [Toth]is actually Slovakian. Could you tell me what it means in Slovakian and how popular a name it is in Slovakia?It is the third most popular name in Hungary... or so My unle Joszef says..
July 16th, 2009 at 04:29 PM
Stephen, I was reading up on Slovak and Hungarian surnames and I read that the name Toth is an old hungarian term for Slovak.
July 18th, 2009 at 06:07 AM
Hello, My name is Petra and I come from Slovakia. It's nice to see some interesting articles about Slovak surnames. Stephen - The name "Toth" is very common in Slovakia and it means "Slovak" in Hungarian language Pam - the name Marvonek has no real translation /meaning. Same for name Peknik. Pekny means pretty, but the name Peknik would not be translated as Pretty. The -nik is often used in Slovak male surnames. Margaret - the name "Horvath" does noes not mean Croatian. That would be "Chorvat". Horvath is extremely popular name and it comes originally from Hungary. Many names with th in the end are of Hungarian origin. ciao,
July 20th, 2009 at 06:23 PM
Hello Everybody, This is my first time visiting this site so I'll give you a short history , My GR. Grandparents Ferdinan & Verona Simala (Shimala) came to the United States from "Chisue" in 1905 With two children my Grandmother & her brother ,the records show no maiden name for great grandmother Verona so since I've had my mtDNA done I need more information on the maternal side of the family. What comes from the census the 1910 Whiting, Indiana USA THE RECORD SAYS THEY WERE HUNGARY AND THEN WROTE SLOVAK ALL OVER THE HUNGARY ON THE PAGE SO "HOW DO I EVEN START TO FIND MY SLOVKIAN ROOT'S CAN SOME ONE GIVE ME SOME HELP?" tHIS IS FOR MY GRANDSONS BECAUSE I WON'T BE AROUND TO HELP THEM KNOW OUR HISTORY?
October 16th, 2009 at 07:48 AM
Hi Claire. I dont know if it help you Chisue maybe Kosice in eastern slovakia or Chyzne which was part of slovakia(nothern slovakia region of Orava) but now is in poland.
October 18th, 2009 at 05:14 AM
Hi..I found this web site and it is very interesting. I would like to offer up my grandmother's maiden name and it was OLIJAR..Can you help with a translation oon it?She was born and lived in Stranany until coming to America Thank you... Tom
October 29th, 2009 at 02:20 AM