The Characteristics of Croatian Family Names

The history & characteristic features of Croatian family names are discussed. It is argued that Croats were the first Slavs who used family names systematically as a sociolinguistic category, & they can be attested in medieval Dalmatian towns as early as the 12th century. Three important moments are distinguished in the history of Croatian family names: (1) the 12th & 13th centuries when Dalmatian towns were modeled on Italian city-states & family name usage; (2) The Council of Trent in the 16th (1545-1563) century, whose legislation of church marriage records necessitated the use of family names on a regular basis; & (3) the 1780 law mandating official state use of family names. The reflection of dialectal peculiarities in Croatian family names & the effect of contact with other, dominating languages are examined, & Latinized, Germanized, Italianized, & Magyarized forms are quoted. The motivation for Croatian family names is studied, concluding that semantically they provide four types of information: (A) ownership /membership (eg, the evolution of patronyms into surnames), (B) personal characteristics (eg, the evolution of nicknames into surnames), (C) origin (eg, the evolution of ethnonyms into surnames), & (D) one's own or one's forefather's profession (occupation names as surnames). 21 References. Z. Dubiel