Kovács or Kovacs, meaning

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

, is one of the most common Hungarian

family name In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give ...

History

The name is found in

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

and Hungarian expatriate communities. There are similar names with the Kováts or Kovách spellings. The name means "

" in Hungarian, and it is a

loanword A loanword (also a loan word, loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language (the recipient or target language), through the process of borrowing. Borrowing is a metaphorical term t ...

from

Slavic languages The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavs, Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic language, Proto- ...

. The top three most frequent surnames in Hungary are

Nagy Nagy () is a common Hungarian surname, meaning 'big'. The surname is also common among ethnic Hungarians in the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina, where it is spelled Nađ () and may be transliterated in other languages as Nadj. In Romani ...

, Kovács, and

Tóth Tóth (sometimes Tót or Toth) is a Hungarian surname, Hungarian ethnonymic surname that was an older term related to the "Tótok" meaning Slavs (of Slavonia i.e. Croats, also Slovenes and Slovaks), since one of the Hungarian names for Slavic part ...

.Tamás Farkas
A Surname Typology Project: The Lessons Learnt from the Distribution of the Most Frequent Hungarian Surnames
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Notable people

Ágnes Kovács Ágnes Kovács (born 13 July 1981) is a Hungarian swimmer who competed at the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Olympics. In 2000, she won the 200 m breaststroke and set the Hungary records in the 100 m and 200 m breaststrokes events (1:07.79 and 2:24.03). ...

(born 1981), Hungarian swimmer * András Kovács (born 1947), multiple persons * 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 Dénes Kovács (18 April 1930 – 11 or 14 February 2005) was a Hungarian classical violinist and academic teacher, described as "pre-eminent among Hungarian violinists". He won the Carl Flesch International Violin Competition in 1955. In his care ...

(1930–2005), Hungarian violinist * Edit Kovács (fencer) (born 1954), Hungarian foil fencer * Edit Kovács (swimmer) (born 1951), Hungarian swimmer *

Ella Kovacs Ella Kovacs (born 11 December 1964) is a retired Romanian middle-distance runner of Hungary, Hungarian descent who specialized in the 800 metres.Ernie Kovacs Ernest Edward Kovacs (January 23, 1919 – January 13, 1962) was an American comedian, actor, and writer. Kovacs's visually experimental and often spontaneous comedic style influenced numerous television comedy programs for years after his dea ...

(1919–1962), American entertainer * Ervin Kováts (1927–2012), Hungarian-born Swiss chemist known for the Kovats retention index *

Frank Kovacs Frank Kovacs (December 4, 1919 – February 1990) was an American amateur and professional tennis player in the mid-20th century. He won the U.S. National Indoor Tennis Championships singles title in 1941. He won the World Professional Champions ...

(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 Iván Kovács (born 8 February 1970) is a Hungarian épée The (, ; ), also rendered as epee in English, is the largest and heaviest of the three weapons used in the sport of fencing. The modern derives from the 19th-century , a weapon w ...

(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, multiple persons *

Katalin Kovács Katalin Kovács (born 29 February 1976) is a Hungarian canoe sprinter. She competed in the 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympics and won eight medals, with three golds (K-2 500 m: 2004, 2008, K-4 500 m: 2012) and five silvers (K-2 500 m: 2000, 2 ...

(born 1976), Hungarian canoer *

Ladislav Kovács Guardian usually refers to: * Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another * ''The Guardian'', a British daily newspaper (The) Guardian(s) may also refer to: Places * Guardian, West Virginia, Unite ...

(born 1991), Slovak ''Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' player *

László Kovács (politician) László Kovács (; born 3 July 1939) is a Hungarian politician and diplomat, former European Commissioner for Taxation and Customs Union. He was the foreign minister of Hungary twice, from 1994 to 1998 and from 2002 to 2004. He also served a ...

(born 1939), Hungarian politician and diplomat *

László Kovács (cinematographer) László Kovács ASC (; 14 May 1933 – 22 July 2007) was a Hungarian-American cinematographer, known for his influential work in the development of the American New Wave of films in the 1970s, he collaborated with many known directors, espe ...

(1933–2007), Hungarian-American cinematographer * Magda Kósáné Kovács (1940–2020), Hungarian politician and Member of the European Parliament *

Michael Kovats de Fabriczy Michael Kovats de Fabriczy (often simply Michael Kovats; ; 1724 – May 11, 1779) was a Hungarian nobleman and cavalry officer who served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, in which he was killed in action. General Cas ...

(1724–1779), Hungarian noble and military officer. Known as a founding father of the United States Cavalry. *

Michal Kováč Michal Kováč (3 August 1930 – 5 October 2016) was the first president of Slovakia, having served from 1993 through 1998. Early life Kováč was born in the village of Ľubiša in then Czechoslovakia in 1929. He then graduated from the p ...

(1930–2016), first president of Slovakia *

Mišo Kovač Mate "Mišo" Kovač (; born 16 July 1941) is a Croatian recording artist. He is the best selling artist from Croatia and former Yugoslavia, with well over 20 million records, cassettes and compact discs sold to date, and is often regarded as one ...

(born 1941), Croatian singer *

Margit Kovács Margit Kovács (1902–1977) was a Hungary, Hungarian ceramist and sculptor. Life Margit Kovács was born into a Jewish Hungarian family in Győr, Hungary on 30 November 1902. She originally wished to become a graphic artist but she grew int ...

(1902–1977) Hungarian ceramist and sculptor *

Pál Kovács Pál Kovács (17 July 1912 – 8 July 1995) was a Hungarian athlete, who began as a hurdler, but eventually switched to fencing. By the time Kovács won his first fencing gold, in 1936, he had already been a member of the winning Hungarian te ...

(1912–1995), Hungarian saber fencer * Péter Kovács (footballer) (born 1978), Hungarian footballer *

Richard Kovacs Richard Kovacs (May 5, 1884 – December 29, 1950) was a physician who pioneered diathermy as a therapy. In 1945, he was lamenting the rapid disappearance of American spas. WritingsGerman Spas: Neuenahr, Wiesbaden, Baden-Baden as Seen by the T ...

(1885–1950), physician * Robin Kovacs (born 1996), Swedish ice hockey player *

Rita Kovács 17times world cup championship Rita Kovács (born 29 March 1970 in Nyíregyháza) is a former long-distance swimmer from Hungary. She represented her home country at the 1996 Summer Olympics in 800 metre freestyle. She also competed ...

(born 1970), Hungarian swimmer * Sándor J. Kovács (born 1947), Hungarian-American cardiologist *

Sandy Koufax Sanford Koufax (; né Braun; born December 30, 1935), nicknamed "the Left Arm of God", is an American former baseball pitcher who played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers from 195 ...

(born 1935), American baseball player *

Sharon Kovacs Sharon Kovacs (born 15 April 1990), known professionally as Kovacs, is a Dutch singer from Baarlo. Career Kovacs studied at Rock City Institute, a vocational school in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. She graduated in 2013. In 2014 she worked with ...

(born 1990), Dutch singer * Stephen Kovacs (1972–2022),

saber A sabre or saber ( ) is a type of backsword with a curved blade associated with the light cavalry of the Early Modern warfare, early modern and Napoleonic period, Napoleonic periods. Originally associated with Central European cavalry such a ...

fencer and fencing coach, charged with

sexual assault Sexual assault is an act of sexual abuse in which one intentionally Physical intimacy, sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or Coercion, coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their w ...

, died in prison * István Kovács (footballer born 1920) (1920–1995), Romanian football manager *

Viktor Kovács Viktor Kovács (born 27 December 1973) is a Hungarian sprinter specializing in the 100 metres. He finished seventh with the Hungarian 4 x 100 metres relay team, which consisted of Kovács, Gábor Dobos, Roland Németh, and Zsolt Szeglet, at th ...

(born 1973), Hungarian track and field athlete *

Zoltán Kovács (ice hockey) Zoltán Kovács (born 2 January 1962) is a Hungarian ice hockey coach and administrator. He joined the Hungarian Ice Hockey Federation as a secretary in 1994, then served as its general secretary from 1998 to 2017, and has served as its vice-p ...

(born 1962), Hungarian ice hockey coach and administrator * Zsófia Kovács (triathlete) (born 1988), Hungarian triathlete

Fictional characters

Takeshi Kovacs Takeshi Lev Kovacs is the protagonist in the books ''Altered Carbon'' (2002), ''Broken Angels (novel), Broken Angels'' (2003), and ''Woken Furies'' (2005) by Richard K. Morgan, which take place in or around the 26th century. Fictional history ...

, a fictional character in three books by Richard Morgan * Walter Kovacs, the identity of the character Rorschach, in the

DC Comic DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book ser ...

series ''

Watchmen ''Watchmen'' is a comic book Limited series (comics), limited series by the British creative team of writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons, and colorist John Higgins (comics), John Higgins. It was published monthly by DC Comics in 1986 and 19 ...

'' * Kirilli Kovacs, a character in

Darren Shan Darren O'Shaughnessy (; born 2 July 1972) is an Irish writer and novelist. He is best known for his young adult fiction series '' The Saga of Darren Shan'', '' The Demonata'', and '' Zom-B'', published under the pseudonym Darren Shan. The forme ...

's series, ''

The Demonata ''The Demonata'' is a young adult horror/fantasy series by author Darren Shan. Works Publishing order Cover illustration copyright Melvyn Grant #''Lord Loss'' – 6 June 2005 (5 October 2005 in the US) #''Demon Thief'' – 5 October 2005 ...

''.

References

Hungarian-language surnames Hungarian words and phrases Occupational surnames {{Hungary-hist-stub

History

Notable people

Fictional characters

See also

References