Vuk ( sr-cyr, Вук) () is a male

Slavic given name Given names originating from the Slavic languages are most common in Slavic countries. The main types of Slavic names: * Two-basic names, often ending in mir/měr (''Ostromir/měr'', ''Tihomir/měr'', '' Němir/měr''), *voldъ (''Vsevolod'', ...

, predominantly recorded among

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language. The majority of Serbs live in their na ...

as well as

Croatians The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They are also a recognized minority in a number of neighboring countries, namely Austria, the Czech Republic, ...

, Macedonians,

Montenegrins Montenegrins ( cnr, Црногорци, Crnogorci, or ; lit. "Black Mountain People") are a South Slavic ethnic group that share a common Montenegrin culture, history, and language, identified with the country of Montenegro. Genetics Accordin ...

Slovenes The Slovenes, also known as Slovenians ( sl, Slovenci ), are a South Slavic ethnic group native to Slovenia, and adjacent regions in Italy, Austria and Hungary. Slovenes share a common ancestry, culture, history and speak Slovene as their n ...

. The name literally means "

wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly u ...

Vuk Karadžić Vuk Stefanović Karadžić ( sr-Cyrl, Вук Стефановић Караџић, ; 6 November 1787 (26 October OS)7 February 1864) was a Serbian philologist, anthropologist and linguist. He was one of the most important reformers of the mode ...

, 19th-century Serbian philologist and ethnographer, explained the traditional,

apotropaic Apotropaic magic (from Greek "to ward off") or protective magic is a type of magic intended to turn away harm or evil influences, as in deflecting misfortune or averting the evil eye. Apotropaic observances may also be practiced out of supersti ...

use of the name: a woman who had lost several babies in succession, would name her newborn son Vuk, because it was believed that the witches, who "ate" the babies, were afraid to attack the wolves. In the

Serbian epic poetry Serbian epic poetry ( sr, Српске епске народне песме, Srpske epske narodne pesme) is a form of epic poetry created by Serbs originating in today's Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and North Macedonia. The ...

, the wolf is a symbol of fearlessness. Vuk was the 17th most popular name for boys in

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

in the period 2003–2005.Najpopularnija imena u Srbiji
(in Serbian). ogrlicezabebe.com There are many given names derived from the noun ''vuk''. The following are male names recorded among the Serbs by the 19th century: Vukaj, Vuko, Vukoje, Vukovoj, Vukovoje, Vukal, Vukalj, Vukajlo, Vukola, Vukel, Vukelja, Vukula, Vukan, Vukolin, Vukota, Vukić, Vukadin, Vukac, Vukas,

Vuksan Vuksan ( sr-cyr, Вуксан) is a Slavic masculine given name, derived from Slavic noun '' vuk'', "wolf". It is a hypocoristic, possibly of the name ''Vukoslav''. It is attested in the Middle Ages, and Serbian epic poetry. It is also used as a sur ...

, Vukač,

Vukašin Vukašin (Cyrillic script: Вукашин) is an old Slavic name of Serbian origin. It is composed from two words: Vuk (wolf) and sin (son), so it means sin vuka (son of wolf). In some places in Croatia and Bosnia it can be found as a surname. ...

, Vukša, Vukdrag, Vukman, Vukoman, Vukmir, Vukomir, Vukmilj, Vukoslav, Vukosav, Dobrovuk, Vučo, Vučko, Vučela, Vučan, Vučen, Vučin, Vučihna, Vučina, Vučeta, Vučić, Vučkulin, Vujo, Vujan, Vujat, Vujadin, Vujin, Vujeta, Vujčeta, Vujčin, Vujić, Vujko, Vujak, Vujica, Vujača, Vujaš, Vule, Vulina, Vulić, Vulic, and Vuleš. There are also female names derived from ''vuk'': Vuka, Vukana, Vujana, Vukava, Vučica, Vukadinka, Vujadinka, Vukmira, Vukomirka, Vukomanka, and Vukosava. All the derivatives from ''vuk'' were regarded as apotropaic names. In the period 2003–2005, Vukašin was the 30th and Vukan the 82nd most popular name for boys in Serbia. The name Vuk is recorded in Serbian sources dating before 1400 in the form of Vlk (

Old Cyrillic The Early Cyrillic alphabet, also called classical Cyrillic or paleo-Cyrillic, is a writing system that was developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the late 9th century on the basis of the Greek alphabet for the Slavic people livin ...

: ), with a

syllabic Syllabic may refer to: *Syllable, a unit of speech sound, considered the building block of words **Syllabic consonant, a consonant that forms the nucleus of a syllable *Syllabary, writing system using symbols for syllables *Abugida, writing system ...

''l''. Through a

sound change A sound change, in historical linguistics, is a change in the pronunciation of a language. A sound change can involve the replacement of one speech sound (or, more generally, one phonetic feature value) by a different one (called phonetic chang ...

in Serbian that took place after 1400, the syllabic ''l'' turned into the vowel ''u''. In this way Vlk became Vuk, and by the same process the initial ''Vuk-'' and ''Vuč-'' in the derivatives developed from ''Vlk-'' and ''Vlč-''; e.g., Vukašin from Vlkašin. The names Vujo and Vule are the bases for the derivatives starting with ''Vuj-'' and ''Vul-''. They are formed from ''vuk'' on the same pattern as the pet names ''Brajo'' and ''Brale'' are formed from ''brat'' "brother". The given name Vlk and its derivatives, Vlkoň, Vlček, and Vlčata for males, and Vlkava and Vlčenka for females, were recorded among the

Czechs The Czechs ( cs, Češi, ; singular Czech, masculine: ''Čech'' , singular feminine: ''Češka'' ), or the Czech people (), are a West Slavic ethnic group and a nation native to the Czech Republic in Central Europe, who share a common ancestry, c ...

, while Wilkan was recorded among the

Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in Ce ...

Janusz Janusz () is a masculine Polish given name. It is also the shortened form of January and Januarius. People * Janusz Akermann (born 1957), Polish painter *Janusz Bardach, Polish gulag survivor and physician * Janusz Bielański, Roman Catholic pr ...

, the Archbishop of

Gniezno Gniezno (; german: Gnesen; la, Gnesna) is a city in central-western Poland, about east of Poznań. Its population in 2021 was 66,769, making it the sixth-largest city in the Greater Poland Voivodeship. One of the Piast dynasty's chief cities, ...

(1374–1382), was nicknamed ''Suchy Wilk'' or ''Suchowilk'' "dry wolf". Serbian surnames Belovuk and Bjelovuk mean "white wolf".

Notable people

Vuk Orle Vuk Crnogorac ( sr-Cyrl, Вук Црногорац), also called Orle () and Oro (; from ''orao'' (), "the Eagle"), was a legendary Serbian '' vojvoda'' (military commander) and the chieftain of Soko Grad, a medieval fortified town located in mode ...

(fl. 1330), Serbian military commander *

Vuk Kosača Vuk ( cyrl, Вук; 1317–1359), sometimes also called ''Hran'' in sources, was the 14th century magnate and a powerful nobleman, who was in service to the Serbian king Stefan Dušan (r. 1331–55). Vuk is considered to be a progenitor of Bosnian ...

(d. 1359), Bosnian-Serbian military commander * Vuk Kotromanić (died after 1374), Bosnian Serb ruler *

Vuk Branković Vuk Branković ( sr-cyr, Вук Бранковић, , 1345 – 6 October 1397) was a Serbian medieval nobleman who, during the Fall of the Serbian Empire, inherited a province that extended over present-day southern and southwestern Serbia, enti ...

(1345–1398), Serbian nobleman *

Vuk Lazarević Vuk Lazarević ( sr, Вук Лазаревић) (c. 1380 – 6 July 1410) was a Serbian Prince and the younger son of Prince Lazar of Serbia and Princess Milica of Serbia, Princess Milica Nemanjić. He was executed on 6 July 1410. He was born some ...

(d. 1410), Serbian royalty *

Vuk Grgurević Vuk Grgurević Branković ( sr-cyrl, Вук Гргуревић Бранковић; ca. 1439 – April 16, 1485) was a Serbian nobleman who was the titular despot of Serbia from 1471 until his death in 1485. He inherited the title of '' despot'' ( ...

(1440–1485), Serbian ''despot'' *

Vuk Krsto Frankopan Vuk II Krsto Frankopan Tržački ( en, Wolf II Christopher Frankopan of Tržac) was a Croatian nobleman and soldier of the Frankopan family, father of noted poet and politician Fran Krsto Frankopan. He was born about 1588. He was the son of Ga� ...

(1578-1652), Hungarian-Croatian nobleman * Vuk Stefanović Karadžić (1787–1864), Serbian linguist and reformer of

Serbian language Serbian (, ) is the standardized variety of the Serbo-Croatian language mainly used by Serbs. It is the official and national language of Serbia, one of the three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina and co-official in Montenegro and Kos ...

* Vojvoda Vuk (1881–1916), Serbian military commander *

Vuk Drašković Vuk Drašković ( sr-cyrl, Вук Драшковић, ; born 29 November 1946) is a Serbian writer and politician. He is the leader of the Serbian Renewal Movement, and served as the war-time Deputy Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Yugos ...

(b. 1946), Serbian political leader *

Vuk Jeremić Vuk Jeremić ( sr-cyr, Вук Јеремић, ; born 3 July 1975) is a Serbian politician and diplomat who served as the president of the United Nations General Assembly from 2012 to 2013 and as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia from 200 ...

(b. 1975), former Serbian Minister of Foreign affairs

References

{{given name Slavic masculine given names Serbian masculine given names Slovene masculine given names Croatian masculine given names Bulgarian masculine given names Macedonian masculine given names Montenegrin masculine given names Slavic mythology European witchcraft

Notable people

See also

References