Frequency in Croatian population: 15.835 (2nd Most Frequent)

Croatian word for blacksmith (kovač) is in the root of Kovačević family name, and it means “blacksmith’s son”. Many Croatian surnames has occupational or professional root, and this is the most frequent one. There are two other surnames of the same root among thirty most frequent Croatian family names – Kovačić and Kovač.

Bearer of the Kovačević family name is most frequently of a Croatian ethnicity, from the area of Nova Gradiška (city near north Croatian-Bosnian border) as well as from Bosnian Posavina. This surname can also be found among Croatian Serbs from the city of Knin as well as among Bosnian (Muslim) ethinc group from Bosnian Posavina.

Geography. Bosnian city of Bosanska Gradiška has the greatest density of this surname – one in every fifty residents is Kovačević. This family name can also be found in most of Croatian municipalities.

(Sources: Petar Šimunović, Hrvatska prezimena, Golden Marketing-Tehnička knjiga, Zagreb, 2006; Enciklopedija hrvatskih prezimena, Nacionalni rodoslovni centar, 2008)