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Novak

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Novák, Novak or Nowak is the most common Polish, Czech, Slovak, and Slovenian surname, similar to the popularity of Smith in the United States. It also found all across Eastern Europe among both Christians and Jews from the region. It is usually spelt Novák in Czech and Slovak, Nowak in Polish, and Novak in Slovenian, and pronounced the same way. Many Americans of the surname Nowak have had it anglicized to Novak. Nowak is derived from nový (=new), meaning something similar to new man, newcomer, or stranger in English and was often given to someone who came to a new city or a convert to Christianity. The archaic feminine version of the Polish version is Nowakowa and its plural Nowakowie. In Poland, 203,506 people have this surname. It is also usually spelt Nowak in the German speaking countries (for example in the Austrian capital of Vienna, where large Czech communities settled down at the end of 19th century) where the "w" is pronunced as a "v". The surname Novak occurs in some other Slavic speaking countries (Croatia etc.) as well. There are also a few other surnames which developed from this surname: Nowakowski, Nowacki, and Nowakiewicz in Poland, and Novaković in Serbia.

Nowak surname in voivodships (units of administration in Poland):

Famous people: Novaks

Famous people: Nowaks

See also

  • Novak Electronics, manufacturer of radio control electronic equipment
  • Novak, a progressive metal band from San Francisco, California
  • Novak, a type of gunsight for automatic pistols.
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