Kovač

Kovač (Ковач), meaning "forger" (or "blacksmith") in Slavic languages and (as Kovács) in Hungarian, is a common surname in Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Hungary, Serbia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Slovenia. Outside Europe, the surname is fairly common in the United States (especially Texas and California), Canada, and South America.

There are approximately 9,500 people with this surname in Russia, most of them living in northern and eastern parts of the country. In Slovenia, some 4,800 bear this surname. Kovač is also a relatively frequent surname in Romania (Romanian form is Covaci) and Kovács is one of the most frequent surnames in Hungary.

The derivative forms Kovačić or Slovenian Kovačič, as well as Kovačević and Bulgarian Kovachev (Ковачев), are also very common.

Cognates

• Kovac in the United States and parts of South America was often shortened from a longer last name given out to people who couldn't spell their last name. Example: Dukovac was shortened to Kovac.
• Koval in Ukraine (also Kovalchuk, Kovalenko, Kovalev)
• Kowal in Poland (also Kowalczyk, Kowalski)
• Kovach, the Carpatho-Ruthenian form
• Kovács or Kovacs in Hungary
• Kováč in Slovakia
• Kovář (also Kováč) in Czech Republic.
• Covaci in Romania

Notable people

• Aleksandra Kovač, Serbian singer/songwriter
• Boris Kovač, Serbian composer and multi-instrumentalist
• Kornelije Kovač, singer/musician/record producer from Serbia
• Kristina Kovač, Serbian singer/songwriter
• Marko Kovač, Serbian architect, film director and actor
• Mario Kovač (disambiguation), several notable Croatian people (a director, an inventor, a politician...)
• Michal Kováč, former President of Slovakia
• Mirko Kovač, writer from Montenegro
• Mirko Kovač, Serbian basketball player
• Mišo Kovač, Croatian singer
• Niko Kovač, Croatian football player
• Radoslav Kováč, Czech football player
• Robert Kovač, Croatian football player
• Slobodan Kovač, Serbian volleyball player

Fictional

• Luka Kovač, doctor portrayed by Goran Višnjić on ER

Places

• Kovač is a village in the Czech Republic
• Kovach, sometimes transliterated Kovač, is a village in Stara Zagora Province, Bulgaria
• Kovač is a village in the Republic of Macedonia

Medicine

• Kovac's reagent, a biochemical reagent used for the diagnostical indole test