I have spent the better part of the past few months since  my  joining  of SGS team re-answering and correcting the various amateurs, professsionals and even regional *experts* in genealogy and their answers regarding people of ethnic Serbian origin on international message boards.

Do not worry, you are safe  if you managed to land browsing the net for answers  here  and  are reading this, here people who claim no *proven* or *professional* knowledge will answer your questions only based on facts, records, historical documents and academic sources. We heavily rely on these trifty research aids because we do lack the *expertize* of the kind I will post the most amusing examples here.

Unfortunatelly, the reason why I am clearing this overwhelming backlog of stupidities, inaccuracies and  ignorance  posted in relation to ethnic Serbian origin, customs, history, traditions and heritage is not funny at all - too many researches into ethnic Serbian ancestry have been derailed and abandoned due to false, unrelated and above all useless *advice*. Often such advice is only a consequence of trying to deny many other ascpects of ethhnic Serbian identity such as histroical minority presence in the area, religious perseverence and even their ethnicity based on biased sources and current rewrites of the Balkan history books. Some will go to extreme lenghts in doing this intentionally, and will for instance fail to mention that ethnic Serbs have and still are the largest minority ethnic group in the country of their *expertize*.

My hope is that the next person who picks up researching the same surname or family  that had been anwswered in this way will, based on the correct(ed) information, have a better chance of actually finding their answers, their family  roots, and their  Serbian heritage.

This post will be updated as I make my *unexpertly* way through thousands upon thousands of  such *amusing* messages,

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Q: "...ethnic Serb .... He had one brother, Bosco ..."

 A: " As for a Serbian name Bosco. I have never heard this for one of Serbian descent. Perhaps is was Bozo (sounds like Bozho)."

 ( BOŠKO is a valid and ancient first name among ethnic Serbs. The flag-bearer in the Battle of Kosovo (1389) was one of the nine brothers Jugović - BOŠKO JUGOVIĆ. Any Serbian child has had to learn by heart at least two folk epics mentioning him in primary school...also, first name BOŠKO  has nothing to do with first name BOŽO and these two names are not interchangeable...except when you are an *expert* )

Q: "Looking for any infomration ... He raised his family orthodox (Serbian) but there is great debate in the family as to whether this was his true nationality"

 A: "Well if you have looked at the ship manifest HE declared himself of X ethnicity (or as you called it nationality). He may have gong to the Orthodox Church and of course in X since those churches tend to be attached to a nationality he would have been a member of the Serbian Orthodox Church...What is causing the debate? Based on HIS declaration on the ship manifest he was X, while it would have been rare I do know a couple of  X  who attend Orthodox churches. "

(the man RAISED his family Serbian Orthodox...but if the manifest said he were a Martian, then of course he was a Martian ...there must be a couple of Martians out there who attend Orthodox churches  - those same Serbian Orthodox Churches that  do indeed tend to be very, very attached to nationality of being ethnic Serbian )

Q: "BULUT -  Is this name familiar to anyone. It is a name from Serbia....My nephews have this last name and their father was from Serbia."

A:  Rusyns mainly live in what is now the western Ukraine and SE Poland and are Byzantie Rite (aka Greek Rite) Catholics... which should not be confused with Greek Orthodox. But there are Rusyns (aka Ruthenians, Carpatho-Rusyns) in both Croatia and Serbia.

( Surname BULUT in that exact spelling is found among ethnic Serbs from Bosnia , and the area of origin in 1700s is around the town of TREBINJE. Later this surname is found in Montenegro and Bosnia...not among Rusyns, though)

Q: "Villov, I believe is a Serbian surname...all I know is that the family
migrated from the Vojvodina area to America around 1910"

A: The Villov is a German surname. .. They have been Hungarians by themselves as same as many Scvabs and were good patriots as many scvabs, but never took up the Schvabish identities. I am not sure, they did not move from Czechland.

A: i wondered about the name, because sounds not serbian and also not hungarian. for me it sounds like - as you stated Germany - maybe being from french orgin, but only a guess (Alsace-Lorraine?) maybe Danubeswabians from german region, bordering on France to the Vovodinja?

(VILOV family  of ethnic Serbian origin (XVII century)  came from HERCEGOVINA and  region and TREBINJE town in (today) Bosnia  . This family migrated to Montenegro later and to other places and was Eastern-Orthodox. I also found it among ethnic Bunjevac families   in  Vojvodina region. That branch, which also migrated from Hercegovina,   is Roman Catholic, and  migrated to Vojvodina and Hungary . It is found in the XVIII century Bunjevci/Croatian vital records in Hungary. Their surname was from the earliest records available for the first half of the XVIII century spelled - you guessed it -  VILLOV.  So not German, French or Hungarian surname - but a well documented Bunjevac one.)

Q: " can anyone help to trace family torbica from virginmost...Father inlaw born in 1906. in Vrginmost...he was engaged to a girl who was killed in the war ...he later meet my mother in-law from  slovenia they walked to austria where i think they were married they lived in unrra dp camp ... searching for any relatives have no infomation at all."

A: Title Matična knjiga, 1761-1913, Authors Rimokatolička crkva. Župa Topusko (Main Author) ...These will read like a family tree.... if this was their parish.

A: In my last reply I gave you the info for the parish located at Topusko, which is about 4 miles from Vrginmost. That seemed to be a bit far for a parish center. There is or was a (Roman Catholic) church located a bit closer at Kozarac, about 2 miles away.
 

( before the WWII in 1941. Vrginmost had about 70 households and 300 inhabitants and nationality of all of them was Serbian except a few. The official records document these few so thhat there is no doubt: two Croatian families - Plemenčić and Šprajc, and two Chech - Kresta and Korza.  All of  TORBICA families in the entire county are documented to have been  ethnic Serbian and members of the Serbian Orthodox Church. But nonetheless, a further away Roman Catholic parish in Topusko is where this *expert* will send you to look for the church vital records. ..actually, even to another Roman Catholic parish as he corrected himself ... and the  parish this person needs to look for is the  Serbian Orthodox parish in  - Vrginmost. )

Q: ...Nenadovich...Could this name have been shortened to Nenadov? (in the place of origin)

A: Of course anything is possible.There are records for both NENADOV and NENADOVIC/NENADOVICH found in Ellis Is records.They are both based on the male given name NENAD.... the OV is a diminutive, meaning little one... while the IC means son of, which was originally used by the son who would inherit the property of Nenad.

("-OV" suffix is not a diminutive and most certainly does note mean "little one" - this ending denotes posession or relation. Surname with original spelling NENADOV had a very specific localization in the parts of the Austro-Hungarian empire where ethnic Serbian surnames were deliberately officially recorded in their incomplete form by the authorities and it is still present in same area in the same original first documented form - NENADOV.  Was never swapped with NENADOVIĆ. )

Q: "...Janjusevic, who immigrated to the US in 1924 ... According to his Ellis Island information his home was Osrenic. "

A: I wonder if the place Osaonica, which is located in Novi Pazar (Network Group 20 on the telephone web page)It is 87 miles (140km) south of Belgrade and 23 miles (36km) east of Kragujevac.

(  JANJUŠEVIĆ from the village of OZRENIĆ, near the town of NIKŠIĆ in Montenegro where the surname is found in vital records for the period when the ancestor was born (1900) , and definitely  not Novi Pazar in Serbia  based on  21st century phone books)

Q: "...born about 1885 in Senecake Serbia Yugoslavia,unsure of spellings. He immigrated to USA in 1912"

A: Lasinjski Sjenicak, Croatia. ...The inhabitants likely came from the area of old Wallachia, now Romania.

( According to the  period censuses from XIX and XX century  all inhabitants of this village were ethnic Serbs. They settled in the area around 1700. and came from Ottoman controled territories in Bosnia and Lika.  )

Q: ". Zigic, Stevan....He was from Tuk  (Korenica) and came to United States in 1907..."

A: The closest church may be at Korenica ...Name Pravoslavna crkva. Zupa Korenica
Titles Maticna knjiga,1856-1858 Maticna knjiga,1858

( Locating the parish of origin has nothing to do with locating the closest church  that still exists in the year 2000 . That is the wrong parish, and the *expert* did not bother to chech the schematism of the Serbian Orthodox church for the years 1882. and 1905. which do provide the accurate period  information on all villages this family lived in the area, as well as parishes that they belonged to. The parish that needs to be researched is BJELOPOLJE parish.)

Q: onomastics of the surname SEKULIĆ

A: SEKULIC (sekoolich) is perhaps from the female name Seka, the IC ending means son of, placing the surname in the Matronymic category of surnames.

( Sekulić - patronimic formation pattern, from first name SEKULA .

  Matronimic surnames from Seka: Sèkačić , Sekula, Sekálec , Sèkanić, Sekánović , Sékić  and Sȅstrić . )

Q: ....surnames ending with -OV suffix

A:  Names ending with OV would not be typical of Romanian names.... OV would sugest Slavic roots.... Serbs in Vojvodina whose families typically came from Macedonia.

( families of Serbs in Vojvodina whose surnames end in - OV did not *typically come from Macedonia.*. I have no idea which etymology or onomastics source would carry a wild theory like that, if any.

 Onomastics and etymology are scientific disciplines of the linguistics, and one should really consult scientific, accurate and relevant  sources and/or authors  before providing information in English to people who are not versed in the region or native languages. Otherwise, if one keeps over the years posting inaccurate and unsubstantiated ridiculous theories about names and surnames of a certain ethnicity, like the *expert* who is the author of most of the *answers* I quoted here,  one may come across as being deliberately  disrespectful and ignorant of that ethnic group and its heritage - of which surnames, onomastics and etymology of names are an important  part of great significance.

 Serbs in Vojvodina with the surnames  ending in -OV  are not the consequence of *typically coming from Macedonia*, but of official records which were kept by foreign authorities (Austria, Austria-Hungary) in foreign languages /LAtin, German, Hungarian). At one point even official decree banning all - IĆ suffixes was issued.)

***

Q: etymology of the surname ĐAKOVIĆ, ethnic Serbian family from Vojvodina

A: I believe GJAKOVIC/DJAKOVIC/DAKOVIC has as a root the male given name DJAKOV which would be Jacob, OVIC endings mean son of, literal translation would be Jacobson.

( *Given name DJAKOV which would be Jacob*  - does not exist.The surname ĐAKOVIĆ has nothing to do with *Jacob*, and -OVIĆ  suffixation does not  "mean" * son of*. There is a substantial corpus of ethnic Serbian surnames that are derived from root JAKOV.  A lot of them are documented in an excellent book called SRPSKI PREZIMENIK by dr. Velimir Mihajlović. ĐAKOVIĆ surname is neither in that book, nor in the sources of published onomastic analysis by respectable ethnologists identified in any way or in any possible variant as being of that origin.

Etymological root of surname ĐAKOVIĆ is word  ĐAK (*dijak*) in the medieval meaning of a student who was taught by Serbian Orthodox priests.)

***

Q: Can anyone give an American translation of this name - Valjko Lalic ?

A: Veljko is a diminutive of the name Veselko. The root is the word veseli, meaning happy or cheerful

( VELJKO first name has nothing to do with being * a diminutive of the name Veselko.* VELJKO as valid first name is documented among ethnic Serbs in 1455. Etymological root of the name is word VELIK meaning BIG. )

***

Q: MIHAJLO LOVRIĆ from KOTARANI village ( JAMNICA, JAVNICA, Dvor municipality , Croatia)...The Passenger Manifest has him being Croatians but his 1930 census has Slovenian...

A: Pretty obvious that he was a Croat as he declared his Race or People to be Croatian. ...The 1930 census does not say Slovenian... the word there is Slavian... if you look at other pages the census taker did not write this word as he wrote Slvoenians. I might mention that it was sometimes common to call Croatians Slavonians (Slavonia is a region in Croatia but not where your grandfather was from) regardless of where they came from. This was very common in California, where the Slavonic Society (the oldest Croatian Society in the US) only recently changed their name to Croatian. The Venetians refered to Croatians as Sclavonians... this past October I took my genealogy tour group to Venice where we visited the old Slavonoian School....

( Ship manifests and race / nationality / ethnicity stated in them and in much of the subsequent US censuses is wrong for most of the ethnic Serbian immigrants, and these documents are irrelevant for confirming their ethnic and religious affiliation *in the old country*. MIHAJLO LOVRIĆ from KOTARANI, JAMNICA ( JAVNICA) was Serbian. It takes less time to check and confirm that than to type out the utterly confusing answer this *expert* on all things Serbian provided. Here is the same  family in period records of the Serbian Trade Association "Privrednik", household number 38  : http://baza.privrednik.net/privrednik.php?find=Lovri%C4%87&field=prezime&find1=Dvor&field1=mjesto&searching=yes&search=Pretraga&t=0 . You can learn about "Privrednik" and this online database more here: http://www.rodoslovlje.com/en/documentation/serbian-trade-association-privrednik-merchant-database.)

***
- not a Q&A example but important - if you are giving advice and assistance in genealogical research always make sure you are providing ONLY relevant links and information - overload of unrelated info leads to confusion and people getting lost trying to come to terms with history, borders, place-names, spellings, religions, ethnicities ... :

-On international genealogy boards over the past 10+years which are in Englsih language, 99% of the queries into ethnic Serbian ancestry from former Yugoslavia  were answered with the following *helpful* collection of web resources and links, even posted as a reply to the people who clearly stated that they knew their ancestros were Serbian or belonged to the Serbian Orthodox Church, or were from another coutry of origin:

Useful links for Croatian genealogy, inc. Bosnia, Lika, etc/Links to info about Croatia including history and tourism/CROATIA, an Overview of its History, Culture and Science/Need help with understanding the Croatian language? This link explains the alphabet, pronunciation, common phrases, etc../Appleby in Rijeka, Croatia has a good genealogy page:/Links to organizations Associated with FEEFHS from 14 Countries, inc. Croatia:/Croatians Books, Croatian Immigration, Croatian Coats of Arms, Croatian Genealogy, Croatian Heraldry, Ragusan Press Books, CGHS- By Adam S. Eterovich. Croatian Genealogical and Heraldic Society, research available/Croatian genealogy newsletter:/Croatia links, plus lots more/The Province of Burgenland, Austria, was formed from parts of the Hungarian counties (Megye) of Vas, Sopron and Moson following WWI. While it is Austria's youngest province, it can claim to be one of the oldest. It has a fascinating history worthy of being studied in detail. The population comprises people of mainly Germanic, Croatian and Hungarian descent./The next two links are to sites about White Croatia, in ancient times white signified north and red south thus the red and white checkered Croatian Coat of Arms. This area is in present day Poland, including Krakow, and was populated by White Croatians as early as the 1st century AD. At one time this was a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and was called Galicia./Croats of Slovakia arrived in the mid sixteenth century /Moravian Croats arrived in the 16 th century from central Croatia, fleeing the Ottoman Turkish invasion /A Kingdom called White Croatia existed from the 1st thru the 10th century in what is now part of Czech Rep., Slovak Rep., and Southern Poland, where many descendents of White Croatians still live today/This link has history of Zumberak and Uskoci in Croatia /A good site to learn about tourism and all the beautiful and historic places in Croatia, there is also a section on the language./Genealogy message boards/forums /MAPS, PLACENAME LOCATORS, ETC./Place name locator for the world, inc. Croatia:/Croatia and Bosnia maps:/Croatia town and city locator. Due to the lack of being able to view Croatian letters with diacritical markings the names may appear a bit unusual but just use common sense and you will find the place you are seeking./1910 Hungarian County Maps, inc. areas of Croatia and Slavonia (site is in Hungarian but maps are useful)/Click on LINKS and then click on 1910 Hungarian County Maps, Croatian areas will be included in Lika-Kravaba, Modrus-Fiume, Zagrab, Varasd, Belovar, Baranya, Veroce, Szerem and Pozsega./ShtelSeeker a good place name locator for all Eastern Europe/
Having trouble finding a place? Perhaps this is due to a change in the name of the town or village. This link has Croatian Place Names Alternate spellings (Austria, Hungary and Italy) and FHL Microfilm Summary/Here are links to maps which will give you an idea of the Austria Hungary Monarchy and their provinces so you can get some idea how that relates to Croatia today./SURNAME SEARCH/A general article about the history of surnames/ Ancestry com, here you can look up US Social Security Death records and US phone listings/LDS on line genealogy name search. . Many church records in Croatia have been microfilmed by the LDS. You can search this site by village/town name to see if your ancestors church has been microfilmed, which can be ordered at a local Family History Center, refer to next link for list of FHC near you!/Search for a Family History Centers near you/Stories abound about US Immigration officials changing our forbearer’s names. But are these stories true? Here is a link which delves into what may be just a “family legend” without basis!/Link to Ellis Island records, including immigrant information, place of origin, ship name and much more. Be sure to view the original ship manifest, the one that was handwritten. Don’t rely on the typed info which contains errors. The original manifest will also contain more personal info./This page contains information about where to obtain vital records (such as birth, death & marriage certificates and divorce decrees) from each state, territory and county of the United States./Web page for The Vivodina Society, northern Croatia/Family Tree Software/Here is a link to FREE downloadable family tree software from the LDS (Mormon) church, I know several people who use it and like it/
Searching for family records in Croatia and the US, inc. parish records and US Immigration records/All religious records have been collected in State Archives, they are located at: Varazdin, Zagreb, Pazin, Rijeka, Karlovac, Zadar, Split, Dubrovnik, Sisak, Slavonski Brod as well as Osijek. Queries by mail are accepted for nominal fees, mostly though for limited research./HRVATSKI DRAVNI ARHIVMaruliæev trg 2110000 Zagreb CroatiaTel.: 00385 1 4801 999Fax: 00385 1 4829 000Email: /United States Immigration and Naturalization Service Website contains information about the INS Historical Reference Library collection and services/Naturalization Resources general and by US state/Locating family records in Croatia/CROATIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PARISHES IN USA AND CANADA

None of the above relates specifically to researching Serbian ancestry.

-It gets even better: 
"Not all Croatians are ethnic Croats, here are links to some of ethnic groups in Croatia"

- Ethnic Serbs were and are the largest non-Croatian ethnic group in Croatia. Surely this is the part of the helpful resources where they will be at least mentioned by name :

Other ethnic groups in Croatia :Jews first came to Croatia from Spain seeking protection from the Inquisition. You can link to your Croatian-Jewish Genealogy at this web page / Germans have lived in Croatia for several hundred years and are known as Donauschwabians / Croatia had a union with Hungary which lasted over 800 years. Many ethnic Hungarians, known as Magyars, live in Croatia / Ruthenians (aka Rusyn, Carpatho-Rusyn) have lived in Croatia since 1740. / Many groups of people have settled in Croatia assimilating with the local population the Morlachs, Vlachs or Vlaci is one such group. Some Croatian surnames belie a Vlaci heritage / On the beautiful Istrian peninsula there is a group known as Istro-Romanians. They are listed as a group which is threatened by extinction / The invasion of Croatia and neighboring lands by the Ottoman Turks created mass migrations of people. One such group is the Arbanasi, who fled from the area of Albania. They settled mainly in the Adriatic port city of Zadar, where their descendents live today /

Nope. Nothing. Nada.

-How about religion ? Serbian Orthodox Church has the second largest congregation there. Serbs  apparently have an inexplicable  tendency to belong to Serbian Orthodox Church  and  have church vital records of their ancestors written by its  priests  in its Serbian Orthodox Church parish temples. It would be useful to have some links and info on that religion and church if you intend to research them:

Religions in Croatia : /Eastern (Byzantine) Rite Church in Croatia. The Croatian Byzantine Rites united with Rome in 1611 and the Diocese of Krizevci was founded in 1777. Many people from Zumberak are of this Rite. /  First Croatian Church in US / Catholic Church in Croatia /
Again - nothing.

-HOWEVER,  I agree that this is absolutely essential:

A good search engine, just type in surname followed by genealogy may find others who have information you are seeking

https://www.google.com/

as it will  eventually  most probably lead you  to Rodoslovlje web page.

***

We all make mistakes, but the mistakes we make are only acceptable if we strive to correct them , and  provide accurate and fact-based help and research advice to others. 

 Always make sure that the *expert* advice you are given has  period records and original sources attached to it to confirm the information.