Novak (in Serbian, Croatian and Slovene; Cyrillic: Новак), Novák (in Hungarian, Czech and Slovak), Nowak or Novack (in German and Polish) is a surname and masculine given name, derived from the slavic word for “new” (e.g. Polish: nowy, Czech: nový, Serbo-Croatian: nov / нов), which depending on the exact language and usage, translates as “novice”, “new man”, “newcomer”, or “stranger”.
It seems to originate, at least by common occurrence, in the province of Upper Silesia, when Germanic stock moved into the upper Oder river region, the slavs referred to the “new men” as “Nowaks”. Another theory is that “new man” refers to a person who has converted to Christianity or to a new arrival in a city. It was also used for newcomers to an army and as an occupational surname for people who used the slash-and-burn method to create new arable land—novina. It is pronounced almost the same way in most languages, with the stress on the first syllable. The main exception is Slovene, which places the stress on the last syllable.
It is the most common surname in the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovenia, and the sixth most common in Croatia. It is also found in Romania and Moldova, in the Novac form, and among Ashkenazi Jews in various forms depending on their country of origin.
Spelling
The surname is usually spelled Novák in Czech, Slovak, and Hungarian, Nowak in Polish and German, Novak (Cyrillic: Новак) in Serbo-Croatian, Slovene, Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian, and Novac in Romanian.
In specific countries
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Poland
As of 2009, Nowak (Polish pronunciation: ) is the most common surname in Poland, having surpassed Kowalski. Its plural is Nowakowie (). Nowak is used by both male and female individuals. The archaic feminine version is Nowakowa (). Related surnames include Nowakowski (feminine: Nowakowska; plural: Nowakowscy), Nowacki (feminine: Nowacka; plural: Nowaccy), Nowakowicz (gender-neutral), and Nowakiewicz (gender-neutral).
Nowak is the most common surname in nine voivodeships (administrative units) of Poland, and second in another. It is ranked first in Greater Poland Voivodeship (35,011), Silesian Voivodeship (31,838), Lesser Poland Voivodeship (23,671), Łódź Voivodeship (15,460), Lower Silesian Voivodeship (13,217), West Pomeranian Voivodeship (7,444), Opole Voivodeship (5,538), Lubusz Voivodeship (5,444), and Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship (5,538), and second in Subcarpathian Voivodeship (9,301).
There are two noble families of Polish origin with the surname Nowak:
- One family appeared in Silesia in the 15th century. It included Anatol Nowak (died 1456), Archbishop of Wrocław. A branch of this family became barons in Bohemia in 1660.
- One family appeared in Masovia around 1750. This family included Antoni and Józef Nowak, generals in the Polish army that served Napoleon, and Aleksander Nowak, a general of the Polish forces during the November Uprising in 1831 against Russia.
Czech Republic and Slovakia
Novák is widespread in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. In both countries, the feminine form is Nováková. It is the most common surname in the Czech Republic.
Slovenia
Novak is the most common surname in Slovenia with more than 11,000 sharing it. There are however significant variations between regions: it is very common in central Slovenia (in the regions around Ljubljana and Celje), as well as in parts of southern Slovenia and eastern Slovenia (Lower Carniola, Prekmurje). It is much less common in northern and western Slovenia; in the Goriška region on the border with Italy, it is quite rare. The rank of the surname Novak in the Slovenian statistical regions: 1st in the Central Slovenia Statistical Region (3,422) and Savinja Statistical Region (1,380); 2nd in the Southeast Slovenia Statistical Region (1,231) and Mura Statistical Region (1,040); 3rd in the Drava Statistical Region (1,732); 5th in the Upper Carniola Statistical Region (963) and Lower Sava Statistical Region (380); 6th in the Coastal–Karst Statistical Region (228); 8th in the Central Sava Statistical Region (192); 10th in the Carinthia Statistical Region (238); 11th in the Inner Carniola–Karst Statistical Region (228); 131st in the Gorizia Statistical Region (171).
Other countries
In Croatia, Novak is the sixth most common surname.
In Serbia and Montenegro, Novak is a given name, while Novaković is found as a common surname.
In Germany, Nowak is 159th (c. 31,000) and Noack is 270th (c. 22,000), together with different spellings (c. 64,000), with some concentration in the Ruhr area, around Salzgitter and Lüchow-Dannenberg and as Noack in Lusatia.