Kovács
Appearance
(Redirected from Kovács (surname))
Kovács or Kovacs, meaning blacksmith, is one of the most common Hungarian family names.[1]
History
[edit]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 probably a loanword from Slavic languages.[2] There are 221,688 people in Hungary who are named Kovács, making the name the second most common family name among Hungarians.[citation needed]
Cognates
[edit]- 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 and Russia (also Kovalchuk, Kovalchyk, Kovalenko, Kovalyov, Kovalevych, Kovalsky)
- Kovář (also Kováč) in Czech Republic.
- Kowal in Poland (also Kowalczyk, Kowalski)
- Kovač in Croatia (also Kovačić, Kovačević)
Notable people
[edit]- Ágnes Kovács (born 1981), Hungarian swimmer
- Angela Kovács (born 1964), Swedish actress
- Barbara Kovács (born 1993), Hungarian racewalker
- Balázs Kovács (born 1977), Hungarian hurdler
- Bill Kovacs (1949–2006), American pioneer of commercial computer animation technology
- Dan Kovacs (born 1970), American powerlifter
- Dénes Kovács (1930–2005), Hungarian violinist
- Edit Kovács (fencer) (born 1954), Hungarian foil fencer
- Edit Kovács (swimmer) (born 1951), Hungarian swimmer
- Ella Kovacs (born 1964), Romanian middle distance runner
- Ernie Kovacs (1919–1962), American entertainer
- Ervin Kováts (1927–2012), Hungarian-born Swiss chemist known for the Kovats retention index
- Frank Kovacs (1919–1990), American tennis player
- 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 épée fencer
- János Kovács (born 1985), Hungarian footballer
- Joe Kovacs (puppeteer) (born 1967), American puppeteer
- Joe Kovacs (born 1989), American track and field athlete
- Julie Kovacs (born 1959), American chemist
- Kálmán Kovács (disambiguation)
- Katalin Kovács (born 1976), Hungarian canoer
- Ladislav Kovács (born 1991), Slovak 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 (1940–2020), Hungarian politician and Member of the European Parliament
- Michael Kovats de Fabriczy (1724–1779), Hungarian noble and military officer. Known as a founding father of the United States Cavalry.
- Michal Kováč (1930–2016), first president of Slovakia
- Mišo Kovač (born 1941), Croatian singer
- Margit Kovács (1902–1977) Hungarian ceramist and sculptor
- Pál Kovács (1912–1995), Hungarian saber fencer
- Péter Kovács (footballer) (born 1978), Hungarian footballer
- Richard Kovacs (1885–1950), physician
- Robin Kovacs (born 1996), Swedish ice hockey player
- Rita Kovács (born 1970), Hungarian swimmer
- Sándor J. Kovács (born 1947), Hungarian-American cardiologist
- Sandy Koufax (born 1935), American baseball player
- Sharon Kovacs (born 1990), Dutch singer
- Stephen Kovacs (1972–2022), saber fencer and fencing coach, charged with sexual assault, died in prison
- István Kovács (footballer born 1920) (1920–1995), Romanian football manager
- Viktor Kovács (born 1973), Hungarian track and field athlete
- Zoltán Kovács (ice hockey) (born 1962), Hungarian ice hockey coach and administrator
- Zsófia Kovács (triathlete) (born 1988), Hungarian triathlete
Fictional characters
[edit]- 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.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Ganzhina, I. M. (2001) Словарь современных русских фамилий. Moscow: Astrel. p. 260. ISBN 5-271-00127-X.
- ^ Cresswell, Julia (2010). "The Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins". The Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins.