Hello there!
My name is Elena and I just created this profile minutes ago. I’ve been lurking Nameberry for years and used to have another profile a very long time ago but have stopped using it. I come from Croatia and have been compiling a list of names of Croatian origin to share with you lovely berries. I used BehindTheName to verify some things, even though most of these names were user-submitted so do keep in mind that some things may not be 100% accurate. Some of these names are listed as Serbo-Croatian, as these two countries have a long history together, but some names are purely of Croatian origin. Also, several names on this list are Croatian variations of Latin/Greek/etc. names, but as far as I can tell these variants are uniquely Croatian. If anyone knows how to include sound clips, feel free to explain it to me as I would love to record it so that I can share it with you. I have marked my favorites with a *.
Without further ado, here is the list:
Antun* - a variation of Anthony
Antea - despite being a letter away from Anthea, this name is actually a modern Croatian feminine form of Ante (which is another variation of Anthony)
Bartol - a variation of Bartholomew
Borna* - comes from the verb boriti (to fight) and is actually a really old name, borne by a 9th century prince. It is a boys’ name but has seen some usage on girls, albeit extremely rare. I prefer it on boys.
Cvita* - Croatian form of Slovenian Cvetka (cvet means flower) which has slowly been coming back into style, I adore it at the moment.
Divna - means “wonderful”.
Domagoj* - comes from dom (home) and gojiti (to grow, nurture). I have loved it for a long time.
Dujam and Duje* - Croatian forms of Domnius
Dunja* - means “quince”
Finka - Croatian diminutive of Jozefina. My grandma’s sister is named this.
Hrvoje (B) - derived from Hrvat, which means “Croat”
Iskra* - Slavic name which means “spark”
Iva - I though this name was a feminine form of Ivan, but it actually means “willow tree”. I have never in my life heard anyone say iva while referring to the tree. Iva has been used for a long time, but has soared to the top of the popularity list in the last 20 years. Pronounced like EE-vah.
Ivančica - meaning “daisy”
Ivna - this is such an underrated feminine form of Ivan, especially seeing as Ivana is quite overdone IMO.
Lada - name of a Slavic fertility goddess
Marijeta - a diminutive of Marija
Mirna - means “peaceful”
Nada - means “hope”
Nebojša - means “fearless”
Pavao - Croatian form of Paul
Pejo - diminutive of Petar. My grandpa was named this, I always thought it was beautiful albeit very clunky and old-fashioned.
Ruža - means “rose”
Tena* - Croatian diminutive of Terezija. It always sounded trendy to me but has been in use since at least the 19th century. Have been crushing on it lately.
Tin - English speakers may not like it due to a connection to tin cans and metal in general, but this is actually a diminutive of names ending in -tin (Valentin, Martin, Augustin). Has been very, very popular in the last 15 years.
Tvrtko - seems impossible to pronounce, and I don’t really like this, as it comes from “tvrd” (meaning hard, firm). The sound is not the prettiest.
Vlatka - a diminutive of Vladimira
Zrinka - probably comes from Zrinski, which was the name of a very important noble family
Zora* - means “dawn”
Mak - means “poppy”, but this name is actually masculine.
Maroje* - a variation of Maro. It’s a really old name and quite rare but deserves all the love.
Sunčica* - comes from the word for sun (sunce). There is also Sunčana, which means “sunny”, but I always had a soft spot for Sunčica.
I hope you will enjoy this list. Feel free to share your opinions and also questions about these names if you have any! I look forward to them.
EDIT: here is the sound clip. Thank you @katinka for your technical support.
