Kovács

Kovács or Kovacs is one of the commonest Hungarian family names.

History

The name is found in Hungary and Hungarian expatriate communities. There are similar names with the Kováts or Kovách spellings. The name means "blacksmith" in Hungarian, and it is a loanword from Slavic languages. There are 221,688 people in Hungary who are named Kovács, making the name the second most common family name among Hungarians.

Cognates

• Covaci in Romania
• Koufax in Yiddish
• Kovač in many South Slavic and West Slavic communities
• Kováč in Slovakia
• Kovach, the Carpatho-Ruthenian form
• Kovachev in Bulgaria
• Kovaçi in Albania
• Kaval in Belarus (also Kavalchuk, Kavalenka, Kavaliou, Kavalski, Kavalchyk, Kavalevich)
• Koval in Ukraine (also Kovalchuk, Kovalenko, Kovalev)
• Kovář (also Kováč) in Czech Republic.
• Kowal in Poland (also Kowalczyk, Kowalski)

Notable people

• Ágnes Kovács (born 1981), Hungarian swimmer
• Angela Kovács, Swedish actress
• Barbara Kovács, Hungarian racewalker
• Balázs Kovács, Hungarian athlete
• Bill Kovacs (1949–2006), American pioneer of commercial computer animation technology
• Dan Kovacs (born 1970), American world champion powerlifter
• Edit Kovács (born 1954), Hungarian fencer
• Ella Kovacs (born 1964), Romanian athlete (Ethnic Hungarian)
• Ernie Kovacs (1919–1962), American entertainer from the early days of television
• Ervin Kováts (1927–2012), Hungarian-born Swiss chemist known for the Kovats retention index
• Frank Kovacs (1919–1990), American tennis player in the 1940s
• Fred Kovacs, American soccer player
• Gábor Kovács (financier) (born 1957), Hungarian financier, banker, art collector, philanthropist and founder of KOGART
• Greg Kovacs (born 1968), American bodybuilder
• Iván Kovács (born 1970), Hungarian fencer
• János Kovács (born 1985), Hungarian footballer
• Joe Kovacs (born 1967), American puppeteer
• Joe Kovacs (born 1989), American track and field athlete
• Julie Kovacs, American chemist
• Kálmán Kovács (disambiguation)
• Katalin Kovács (born 1976), Hungarian canoer
• Ladislav Kovács (born 1991), Slovak professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player
• László Kovács (politician) (born 1939), Hungarian politician and diplomat
• László Kovács (cinematographer) (1933–2007), Hungarian-American cinematographer
• Magda Kósáné Kovács (born 1940), Hungarian politician and Member of the European Parliament
• Mišo Kovač (born 1941), Croatian singer
• Margit Kovács (1902–1977) Hungarian ceramist and sculptor
• Pál Kovács (1912–1995), Hungarian fencer
• Péter Kovács (footballer) (born 1978), Hungarian footballer
• Richard Kovacs (1885–1950), physician
• Robin Kovacs (born 1996), Swedish ice hockey player
• Rita Kovács, Hungarian swimmer
• Sándor J. Kovács (born 1947), Hungarian-American cardiologist
• Sandy Koufax (born 1935), American baseball player
• Sharon Kovacs (born 1990), Dutch singer
• Ştefan Kovacs (1920–1995), Romanian former football manager
• Viktor Kovács (born 1973), Hungarian track and field athlete
• Zoltán Kovács (ice hockey) (born 1962), ice hockey coach and administrator, recipient of the Paul Loicq Award
• Zsófia Kovács (born 1988), Hungarian triathlete

Fictional characters

• Takeshi Kovacs, a fictional character in three books by Richard Morgan
• Walter Kovacs, the identity of the character Rorschach, in the DC Comic series Watchmen
• Kirilli Kovacs, a character in Darren Shan's series, The Demonata.