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Family names among Croats motivated by the word for Turkish nation

How Turks ended up
in Croatian Surnames

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Directory of Croatian Surnames

Surnames beginning with the
letter T

There are quite a few surnames among Croats that are motivated by the word for Turkish nation (Croatian: Turci). Reasons are of a historical nature: for many centuries, influence of Ottoman Empire was exerted upon great portion of Balkan peninsula, and regions where Croats had been in majority were either occupied by Turks or had been neigbouring regions towards Turkish territories.

However, bearers of those Croatian surnames hadn't necesarilly been of Turkish nationality. Scholars claim that those surnames were created as a response to a migration of Slavic people from areas under Turkish rule to regions in the Western parts of today's Croatia. Local residents who welcomed immigrants would typically designate them as those who ran away from Turks.

Thus, surnames like Turčinić, Turčin, Turak, Turek, Turčec, Turček, Turčinec, Turković, Turčik, Turčinov, Turčinović, Turk, became part of Croatian anthroponymy. It is interesting to note that some of these surnames are most frequent in areas quite far away from regions ruled by Ottoman Empire. Those areas include island of Krk, Rijeka region, Istria and Međimurje.

All articles from Croatian genealogy web site

Female given names as a motivator for Croatian surnames A matronymic surname would be typically created using a name of a women who particularly excelled in a community, or was famous because of some fortunate or less fortunate circumstance.

Tidbits of Janeš family history available online Nenad Menićanin gathered valuable data from various sources on the meaning, geography and genealogy of his ancestors, and published his findings on the internet.

A new book published on the history of the noble Jelačić family Pavao Maček, a prominent Croatian historian, introduced the book "Noble clans of Jelačićs" in Zaprešić City Hall.

Herzegovian village of Hardomilje and it's clans The most prominent clans and family names in the area are Bandur, Boras, Bubalo, Ćuže, Gadže, Grbavac, Ilić, Jelinić, Kravić, Mandić, Miloš, Rupčić and Vukšić.

Vučetić nobility from Brinje and Senj The first mention of the Vuchetich surname can be traced back to a certain Bosnian nobleman Pribislav and his last will written at the second half of the 15th century. (14 Mar 2010)

Bosnia-Herzegovina, an important area for genealogical research for Croats Vital records kept in local Catholic parishes have always been crucial in claims of Croats in the area about their identity and history.

Pitomača family trees researched An interesting work about genealogy of residents of the Croatian town situated between Đurđevac and Virovitica had been published on the internet.

Slavonian settlements with a significant German population By 1931, in about hundred settlements in eastern parts of Croatia lived about 20 thousand inhabitants of Germanic origin.

Aristocracy of the Republic of Ragusa One of the oldest and most prominent aristocracies in the Mediterranean region had developed in 12th and 13th century in Dubrovnik region.

Visiting Croatia (2): Accommodation We continue our series of articles about the country and it's people for genealogists preparing to visit Croatia and do the research.

19th century census as a source of genealogical data The oldest census in the areas of today's Croatia was performed in 1785, but the most valuable one was done in 1857.

Visiting Croatia (1): Transportation If you plan to visit Croatia to do genealogy research, our series of articles on transportation, accomodation, telecommunications and the culture may help you as you prepare for the trip.

Croatian genealogists invited to contribute Several interesting new colaborative internet technologies were presented in Zagreb, Croatia to those interested in research of Croatian records.

Hrastovac vital records available online Up until the end of the World War II the settlement also known as Eichendorf had been a vibrant society, mostly inhabited by Germans.

Link to the News Archives

By their noses shall they be recognized
Lidija Sambunjak
professional genealogist
People who want their family trees to be researched come from all around the world and it’s no wonder every one of them is different. But as special as family Sadar was, none were before them. (11 Oct 2011)



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