Hi,

Yes your family nama is from Montenegro. The archives mention that your surname is seen in the following places: Gradkani (rijeka Crnojevica), Mkrojevici (Bar), Ulcinj and Livari. The family can also be found in Bar, Kotor Savina and Herceg Novi.

From what I can see its a Serbian family originally. The best way to do your research is to go to the archives in Montenegro and start tracing your ancestors names. You start with yourself, then your father, grandfathet etc.

A lot of placenames in Montenegro can also be translated into Albanian. The same go vice versa so that doesn't mean anything.

Hope this helps.

Wow are you serious? Because i have heard the name derived from Croatia.... But kolar is a serbian surname? Becuase i know years back the last name is KOLLARI.....and i looked that up and traces can be found in albania.... Im just guessing the the Serbs forced the albanians to change there last names

examples:

Metaj: Metovic
Kollari: Kolar
Demiri: Demiriovic
Dabaj: Dabovic
Lukaj: Lukovic

I checked and in Shkoder albania i found Kollari's (I dout any relation) But can that indicate that i am ALBANIAN?

Also my mothers madian SURNAME was MUCAJ which is clearly albanian.....

Please give me some more info if possible..... Becuase i really thought i had %100 Albanian Blood.. i sitll think i do but i want to clafiy this

Thanks

Well there is no such thing as being 100% Albanian, Serbian, Croatian etc. The northern part of Albania used to be part of Montenegro. The Montenegrin army had a big fight at Skutari but eventually gave up not to anger the super powers in Europe.

Now the things with surnames is tricky. You can't derive an ethnicity from a surname in every case. Go read in our article section about surnames. Kolar is being used by Serbs, but its also possible that there is an Albanian variant being used by Albanians. Its also possible that there is intermarriage. Remember that we use nationality and states only for 200 years. Before that we worked mainly with tribes and clans. Another variant of Kolar is Kolarevic, that doesn't mean that they are related. Also sometimes people share the same surname but they are not related to each other at all. In most cases the ancestors took similar surnames because that had to according to law due to the influence of Napoleon.

The best way to find our who your ancestors are is to trace them one by one. You can use the archives for that. Remember, names only especially in our area mean that you belong to an ethnic group, and religion doesn't say a thing either.

The surname of your mother is registered in the books in the Montenegrin archive as: Mučaj
They come from Kravari(Ulcinj) and Kotor. You can find more information there but before you go and rush into the archives to see more information you must collect all information about yourself, your father, grandfather and greatgrandfather from both sides. Then see where they were born and then go to those archives. You can use PAF(free) from http://www.familysearch.org to put your family tree in or you can choose for the http://www.rodoslovlje.com/rodoslov on our site which is also free.

My guess from hearing from you is that you come from a mixed family but then again there is no such thing as being 100% Albanian nor Serbian.

If your passport is Albanian then you are Albanian(nationality) If your dad e.g. is Serbian and your mother is Albanian then you can choose
If you father is Christian and your mother Muslim then you are Christmus ;-)j/k

Either way, we don't choose our ancestors in asmuch as they choose us. Be proud of your ancestry no matter what.

Sources: Maticna knjiga rodjenih 1869-1900, Narodni odbor Kotor.

First off, I want to say thanks because i really appricate you helping me out.

Let me tell you what i was told by my parents......

Althought my father did tell me out family (The Kollari's) Came From Albania , Shkoder around 250-300 Years ago.. I am aware that The shestan region imagrated from albania in the 1730's im pretty sure my family came with that movement.

As for my mothers family (Mucaj's)

Please tell me any other info you get i would greatly appricate it

Also..... i noticed you said there are no %100 Albanians or Serbs.... but what about the Albanians in Tuzi Malseia (Which is considered Montenegro) So you claim they are mixed to?.. i think it is possible that there are %100 albanians and serbs..... has you know around 150-200 years ago shortly after albanians arrived.... Montenegrians, Serbs Forced albanians to change there last names and add a Suffix..... Example... Juncaj changed to Junkovic.... Dabaj changed to Dabovic..... Mustafa changed to Mustafic...

Also i check this site here for information about LIVARI where i came from and seen all the last names that are still there today but KOLAR was nowhere to be found I saw KOLA (Which is diffintly not a SERB, CROAT last name (thats pure Albanian) Thats also a Catholic Last name...... I also found out that just the last few hundred years 200-300 years ago we were Catholics (Guess we changed when the turks came)
** This is offical information from the Registration of TIVAR in 1881**

Here is the link

http://www.buzuku.cg.yu/Arkivi/Buzuku18/Dokumente.htm

(please look at Ljare/Livari for my last name KOLAR/KOLLARI its no where to be found but my dad is sure his grandfather was born there)
So please if you find anything out please let me know i greatly appricate it

thanks

Hi,

Like I said, there is no such thing as ethnically belonging 100% to a group. Serbs, Albanians, Croats. All of them are mixed one way or the other. Just look at history and you will see that. WWII is a sad example of what can happen with this ideology. Today we have States, before that Kingdoms, before that Tribes.

http://www.rodoslovlje.com/novo/showarticle.php?articleID=7

Now for you the most important thing is that you go to the archives yourself. According to law only you can access the direct data in the archives. I dont know if you live in Montenegro or anywhere near but we can't do that for you. You will need to do research yourself. this is patient work but very sattiesfying

Regards,

Hi,

I think that there is no conection between Albanian Kollari and Serb Kolar.
The serb and croatian surname Kolar is resulted from profession. Kolar on english language meaning "cart wright" or "wheel wright".
I do not know what is the meaning of the surname Kollari on Albanian language.

All of those last names mentioned are all derived from the Albanian decent. My grandmother was Dabaj/Dabovic and my Great-grandmother was Lukaj/Lukovic from Shestan. The reasoning for the -vic at the end is because those Albanian villages were under Serbian rule and Serbians have the -vic at the end so they had all the Albanians change their lastname to have the -vic so the Cencus wouldn't look so funny. But all of those lastnames are of Albanian Decent.

As someone mentioned before that about 200-300 years ago their family was Catholic. That is true. When the turks came, they demanded villages to change their religion to Islam. My Great-great grandfather refused so he fled his area while his brothers converted. So I myself have muslim relatives.

Yes but there is too much generalisation here. Surnames are being given to someone who is named after something/someone. See: http://www.rodoslovlje.com/novo/showarticle.php?articleID=49

In your case Lukovic is from Lukaj. But there are also many that are named Lukovic and that not come from Lukaj and there is no relationship between them at all. I object to simple deductions as these because on other forums they lead to heated discussions.

I don't know untill how far you did you genealogy but in that region Serbs and Albanians have more in comon then they realise, they also share ancestors.

As we do in our surname database, please mention the name of the town the family originates from in order to prevent confusion.
Otherwise its nice to see you all post here. Which reminds me to ask since my Albanian is not that good. We are looking for an Albanian translator for translating this site also in Albanian.

To answer someones question about being 100% Albanian, I consider myself 100% Albanian. My father is from Malesia e Madhe( the albanian mountains of Montenegro) for many many generations and my mother comes from the village Shen Gjergj(Sveti Djordje) also known as Shnjergji. My Grandmother (mothers mother) comes from Shestan.

Yes I believe it is more accurate to say that just as in Serbian in Albanian as well you use Patronims. Now it is a known fact that e.g. Jankovic is used by both Serbs, Croats and Alabnians. It is derived from the name Janko a name that is used by all 3 its even being used in Germany

Thats why genealogy is a science, you need to gather the names and create a family tree. It is very well possible there is a Kolar family that is both Serbian, Croatian and Albanian while there is no real connection between them besides the same surname.

Either way feel free put your pedigree online here at our site and if you know of anyone who is willing to translate let me know.

I AM 100% ALBANIAN, yes there is such thing, Albanians do not mix with serbs whatsoever especially Albanians from (North) Albania, and MOntenegrins are Slavicized Albanians and SHKODER is extremely patriotic, it never mixed with Montenegrins. You need to read up on High Albania by Edith Durham because she explains theres extreme tension between Serbs in Vraka, a village near Shkoder and Albanians so I highly doubt they befriend each other let alone marry each other.Livari is right, Im from Gruda, SINISHTAJ, and I know that Serbs make Albanians add vic to their last names very frequently especially in Koja e Kucit & Triesh. Livari your probably 100% ALBANIAN. KOLLARI is probably from Ulqini because Malsors in Mali Zi only have -aj endings at the end of their last names .

some more ex:
LUCAJ:lucavic
DEDVUKAJ:dedvukavic
NIKPRELAJ:nikprelavic
NIKOLLAJ:nikollavic
LEKOCAJ:lekocavic

Kolaravic is just a slavicized ALBANIAN, Kola is an Albanian name

I am sorry but that is theory and not science, please provide facts otherwise its just a hypothesis and those do not belong here on the forum. Just as much as some Serbs say Skenderbeg was Serb. So my message to all is provide archival sources with your claims which I am confident of you can't. There are Albanian names that Slavicized but Kolarevic is not one of them.

you are very wrong current northern albania was NEVER part of montenegro, and weve had sour relations ever since slavs came to the balkans, not just 300 years, and we were forced to move down

This is not a political forum, and you are tearing things out of context. I made a reference to the Skutari battle because that was what Livari was talking about and thats why there was a demographic change.

This is your last warning I send you a PM. Stick to genealogy and leave politics out of it.