I need to know about a surname in my family tree? I think it's "Bucovic" but I am not sure?

Question

My family are Hungarian. The family name is Hungarian. But I have heard stories of ancestors called Bucovic or maybe it's Vucovic. Anyway they changed their last name (I do not know why they changed their name. I've heard stories about this but I don't know if they are plausible).

I've looked up the name on google. Vucovic or Vukovic and many other variants of this name are common in Serbia, Croatia and other countries in the region. Not sure about Bucovic though (or if it's even spelled like that). There is a name Bucovitz but my family pronounce it either "bukovik" or "bukovich".

Are any of you familiar with this name? what's it's origins? and why would a family in Hungary have this name? I'm guessing if it is Serbian or Croatian it is because of immigration within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. But I am not sure. This is why I ask.

Thanks.

Answer 1

Hey! I'm from Croatia, and this is probably a Croatian or Serbian surname, wrongly transcribed to English (as well as most other surnames of ex-Yugoslav immigrants). It's highly possible your family originated from these areas, no matter if your parents/grandparents lived in Hungary. Croatia was a part of Austro-Hungarian empire for a long time, and those kind of migrations were not uncommon (especially since Austria and Hungary were always wealthier countries that offered more opportunities).



The name, in its original form, would probably be 'Buković' or 'Vuković', pronounced 'Bukovich' and 'Vukovich' (the 'ć' and 'č' sounds are pronounced something like the English '(t)ch'). The possible variations could be 'Bucović' and 'Vucović', too (pronounced 'Butsovich' and 'Vutsovich'). The pronunciation ending with 'ik' is a common mistake among the immigrants; there are actual surnames ending with 'ik' in Croatian and Serbian, but in that case they are written with 'ik' in the end .There are no Croatian/Serbian surnames ending with 'ic', which would be prononunces 'itz' in the original, because the suffix itself does not have any meaning. The patronymic suffixes 'ovich', 'evich', 'inich' and alike are composed of the suffixes for possessive adjectives (-ov, -ev (male) -in (female), alike the English -'s) and the suffix '-ich' for deminutives. For example, the surname 'Petrović' (Petrovich) would be something like saying Peters(on) Junior in English. The 'ik' suffix is commonly used in noun formation (for example 'ratnik' (meaning 'soldier'), 'učenik' (pron. 'uchenik', meaning 'student'), 'prognanik' (meaning 'exile'), etc.), and can sometimes become a surname. Those are not Hungarian words; moreover, Hungarian and Croatian (and Serbian) don't even belong to the same basic language family (Hungarian is an Uralic language, similar to Finnish, while Croatian and Serbian are Indo-European and Slavic, similar to Russian, Czech, Bulgarian, etc.).

Answer 2

I also have Hungarian ancestors. During the 1500's and 1600's, Hungary and Austria were at war with the Ottoman empire. Hungary was defeated in the 1500's, but the real prize was Vienna. The ruling Hapsburgs of Austria built a series of castles/forts along the western Hungary border and repelled the Turks in a series of wars. The Turks eventually withdrew, but they killed or enslaved the people of western Hungary as they retreated, leaving the region (an area of good farmland) essentially depopulated. So the Hapsburgs appealed to the ruling Batthyany family of Croatia, a family of Hungarian descent. They offered good farmland in Hungary to Croatian families willing to settle there and provide military muscle should the Ottoman Turks return. So there was an influx of Croatian immigrants into western Hungary and parts of Styria in southeastern Austria. They intermarried with the Hungarians who were still there and Germans immigrants from Austria and southern Germany. The common Hungarian surname Horvath/Horvat/Horwath surname means "Croatian" -- Croatians spell the name of their country as Hrvatska.



Since most people didn't read, surnames were generally spelled phonetically back then, so the spelling might change from generation to generation or with the replacement of the village priest who recorded births, marriages and deaths for the local Catholic church. Names ending with the "ich" sound might be spelled with an "-its" ending or "-itch" or "-isch" or other variations. (Jewish surnames would usually be spelled with an "itz" ending.) A surname such as Vucovic might also be spelled Wukovic or Bukovic or Vukovich or Werkovits. My Berkovits/Berkovitch ancestors changed their surname spelling to Verkovich so they wouldn't be mistaken for Jews (Berkovitz/Berkowitz was a common Jewish surname) since they had a large Jewish community in their village. Sometimes a surname was changed just to make it easier to pronounce (such as Franchich or Franzsits to Francis).

Answer 3

I looked Bucovic up and it looks like it's the name of a town in Croatia. There was a variant of the name spelled Butchowitz, which could explain the Bucovitz connection.

http://kojetinjews.com/index.php (type Bucovic into the search engine- it will highlight the article for you. It was a very long article so I couldn't find the exact place where your family's name was mentioned) It looks like it is a fairly common Jewish surname, so perhaps your ancestors moved around alot because of persecution, which would result in many different surnames that aren't all Hungarian.

**edited**

Look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bukovec

on the list of posssible meanings wikipedia lists Bukovec as a Hungarian place name in Romania

Answer 4

It's entirely plausible for a (south Slavic) surname like "Bucovic" to end up in Hungary (possibly spelled "Bukovics" or something similar), and it's also entirely plausible for it to be changed to something more Hungarian-sounding down the line. I have surnames in my family tree that I can't even pronounce (what *do* the Slovaks have against vowels, anyway?), and multiple branches had name changes, some as early as the 1870s.



When it comes down to it, everybody is whatever nationality they say they are, genealogy and onomastics notwithstanding. It doesn't always work that way politically, of course, but that's a different subject.

Answer 5

What I am going to suggest is that you don't waste your time researching family stories with regards to a change of surname if you have no back up of it other than family stories...... just write them down, who told you and when, and that is important as in a few months time the story you know now will be different.....it is very scary when you look back 6 months later and read a story you wrote as it will not be the same details you remember and if anyone else tells you, you write their version down too...........



Surnames are just an identifier for all of us and in the past and especially in that part of Europe a surname identified not only you and your family, but your religion and political persuasion.........so could get you killed.....and depending on the era as some era's were more dangerous than others.



Follow the paper trail of records your family left behind and if there is a name change you will find it, it comes down to proving it is the same people, however often that is not too hard to do ( depending on year and records available)



Look at the history of the countries at the time frame you are looking at, when civil registration came in and there is a list of 'Global Civil Registration' on the 'document' page of http://familytimeline.webs.com/ click the 'Other record resources for family history' on the drop down menu if you are not sure when that was, but that helps you by knowing what records could be found, so if you know civil registration wasn't set up then it is parish baptisms you would look for and if it was then you know you have civil births and parish baptisms.....and that makes it easier to cross reference information.

Unless you are in Hungary, make sure you get onto all the forums for it and not just the American ones, they ar e good BUT they are too big and it can take years if ever before anyone gets back to you...most European countries have their own forums and the obvious ones to go to are the british ones...same language, good research skills, daily active...so you will get answered the same day..links page on the same link I gave you Britgen, rootschat,...can't think what others but it is under forums section......also the surname boards same place..... the UK also have a very large Hungarian community, so you may come across lots of genealogists on the UK boards with the right background to help you..................

Answer 6

Ask your family about how Hungarians pronounce "B" and "V". A friend was telling me about the various Eastern-European pronunciations but I have forgotten the details.



As Maxi said, you need to find the Bucovic or Vucovic family in documents and records and determine where they were born and where their parents were born etc. Borders changed and surnames are a fairly resent development so spellings were often fluid.

Answer 7

There is on thing as well that on Cyrillic Б is В and B is V so that you may also want to know.

Bucović could be Serbian rear last name. Buca on South Slavic languages means fat or fat child. So it is possible.

Bucovitz, Bukovick & Bukovich are all fitting way of total Romanization or bringing it to of Serbo-Croatian last names as C/K isn't same as in other languages and Ć is only in Polish and Vietnamese.



So it is possible that you have South Slavic origins.





As for why would they change it... Well Serbs and Croats (but Croats in lesser form) had extra taxes in Austria and some of them who were to poor to pay for extra taxes changed their last names and religion if Serbs to avoid it. Quite a number was assimilated if we consider how many Serbs were living in Budapest at the time. Even my family turned into Catholic for around 10-15 years but we returned to original fate.