Kovács

Kovács or Kovacs is one of the most common Hungarian family names.

History

The name is found in Hungary and Hungarian expatriate communities. There are similar names with the Kováts or Kovách spellings. The name means blacksmith in Hungarian, and it is a loanword from Slavic languages. There are 221,688 people in Hungary who are named Kovács, making the name the second most common family name among Hungarians.

Cognates

• Kovač in many South Slavic and West Slavic communities
• Kovac in the United States and parts of South America was often shortened from a longer last name given out to people who couldn't spell their last name. Example: Dukovac was shortened to Kovac.
• Koval in Ukraine (also Kovalchuk, Kovalenko, Kovalev)
• Kowal in Poland (also Kowalczyk, Kowalski)
• Kovach, the Carpatho-Ruthenian form
• Kováč in Slovakia
• Kovář (also Kováč) in Czech Republic.
• Kovachev in Bulgaria
• Covaci in Romania
• Kovaçi in Albania

Notable people

• Ágnes Kovács (born 1981), Hungarian swimmer
• Bill Kovacs (1949–2006), American pioneer of commercial computer animation technology
• Dan Kovacs (born 1970), American world champion powerlifter
• Edit Kovács (born 1954), Hungarian fencer
• Ella Kovacs (born 1964), Romanian athlete (Ethnic Hungarian)
• Ernie Kovacs (1919–1962), American entertainer from the early days of television
• Ervin Kováts (1927–2012) Hungarian-born Swiss chemist known for the Kovats retention index
• Frank Kovacs (1919–1990), American tennis player in the 1940s
• 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 (born 1970), Hungarian fencer
• János Kovács (born 1985), Hungarian footballer
• Joe Kovacs (born 1967), American Puppeteer
• Kálmán Kovács (born 1965), Hungarian football (soccer) player
• Katalin Kovács (born 1976), Hungarian canoer
• László Kovács (politician) (born 1939), Hungarian politician and diplomat
• László Kovács (cinematographer) (1933–2007), Hungarian-American cinematographer
• Magda Kósáné Kovács (born 1940), Hungarian politician and Member of the European Parliament
• Margit Kovács (1902-1977) Hungarian ceramist and sculptor
• Pál Kovács (1912–1995), Hungarian fencer
• Péter Kovács (footballer) (born 1978), Hungarian footballer
• Richard Kovacs (1885–1950), physician
• Robin Kovács (born 1996), Swedish ice hockey player
• Rita Kovács, Hungarian swimmer
• Sándor J. Kovács (born 1947), Hungarian-American cardiologist
• Sharon Kovacs (born 1990), Dutch singer
• Ştefan Kovacs (1920–1995), Romanian former football manager
• Viktor Kovács (born 1973), Hungarian track and field athlete
• Zsófia Kovács (born 1988), a Hungarian triathlete

Fictional characters:

• Takeshi Kovacs, a fictional character in three books by Richard Morgan
• Walter Kovacs, the identity of the character Rorschach, in the DC Comic series Watchmen
• Kirilli Kovacs, a character in Darren Shan's series, The Demonata.