Croatian first names

When it comes to first names, the Croats are quite traditional. With older generations first names are mostly of Slavic origin, such as the male names Željko, Tomislav and Zvonimir and the female names Mirna, Slavica and Nada, ... but more common Christian first names are widely used by Croats.

Since we're talking about names, have you ever wondered why the majority of Croatian last names end in –ić? In fact, the answer is quite simple ... find out in our blog article about Croatian last names!

Croatian first names in the 20th century

As we wrote, Croats tend to stick to traditional first names, which is reflected in the list of most popular Croatian names over the last hundred years. In fact, the two most popular male names haven't changed for over a century!

The most popular male Croatian names since 1900

1900 to 1949: The five most frequent names were Ivan, Josip, Stjepan, Franjo and Nikola.
1950 to 1999: Ivan and Josip remained the most popular, followed by Željko, Marko and Ivica.
2000 to 2014: Ivan and Josip stayed top, followed by the biblical names: Luka, Marko and David.

The most popular female Croatian names since 1900

1900 to 1949: The five most frequent female names were Marija, Ana, Kata, Dragica and Ljubica.
1950 to 1999: Marija and Ana remained among the most popular, joined by Ivana, Mirjana and Marina.
2000 to 2014: The top five names in 2015 changed only slightly: Ana, Mia, Marija, Lucija and Sara.

Traditional Croatian male names of Slavic origin

These names end in -mir, -slav, -goj (e.g. Branimir, Miroslav and Domagoj). The oldest Croatian rulers were called Mislav, Borna, Domagoj, Tomislav and Krešimir, which means that some of these traditional names have been popular and commonly used since the 7th century!

The most popular names in 2015

Let's finish things off with the current top ten male and female first names, which are ... you've guessed it ... largely unchanged

The most popular male names

Luka
Ivan
Jakov
Marko

Josip
Ivano
Filip

David
Daniel
Antonio

The most popular female names

Lucija
Ema
Lana
Mia

Lara
Ana
Petra

Eva
Sara
Iva

Regional and unusual names

Of course, each part of Croatia also has its own traditional names which are specific to that region. For example, Duje, Roko, Ante and Lovre are very common in Split but unusual in other parts of Croatia.

As a result of globalization, unusual and exotic names have also gained in popularity recently, for example: Tristan, Mars, Noel or Liam for boys and Aria, Elsa, Noemi or Kaia for girls.

Some grammatical peculiarities ...

Male names which end with –e are declined like female nouns (e.g. Ante, Mile or Jure). Female names ending in a consonant are not declined at all! (e.g. Dolores, Ines and Jasmin)