Serbian surnames usually, but not always, have a suffix. With suffix we mean endings of the surname like: -ić in Latin and –ић in Cyrillic. The endings of the surnames usually indicate to mean “son of”, as in Scotland we use “Mac” and so on.

The patronymic system isn’t only used by Serbs but is also common with other Slavic nations. There is an estimate that about 2/3 of all Serbs use the above system with their surnames. This results in many equal surnames between non-related families.

The most frequently used surnames are: Jovanović, Nikolić and Petrović.

Serbian immigrants to the U.S or other English speaking nations usually have a –ich.