Eastern European Last Name Generator

Gendered endings compared across the region

In much of Eastern Europe a surname changes with gender. Polish names ending in -ski or -cki become -ska or -cka for women, so Kowalski becomes Kowalska, while names like Nowak stay the same. Russian and Bulgarian names add -a, so Ivanov becomes Ivanova and Pushkin becomes Pushkina. Czech and Slovak names add -ová to almost every female surname, as in Novák and Nováková, although Czech law has allowed women to use the masculine form freely since 2022.

The Baltic languages go further. In Lithuanian, the husband's Kazlauskas becomes Kazlauskienė for his wife and Kazlauskaitė for an unmarried daughter, although a neutral form ending in -ė is now also allowed. Latvian swaps the masculine -s for -a, so Bērziņš becomes Bērziņa. By contrast, Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian names ending in -ić, such as Petrović and Hodžić, stay the same for everyone, as do Ukrainian names ending in -enko or -uk, such as Shevchenko.

Common roots behind Eastern European surnames

The same ideas repeat across the region in different languages. The smith gives Polish Kowalski, Ukrainian Kovalenko, Czech Kovář, Croatian Kovač and Hungarian Kovács. The newcomer gives Polish Nowak and Czech Novák. Horvat, meaning Croat, is the most common surname in Croatia and also appears in Slovenia and Hungary. Patronymics are everywhere too: Ivanov, Petrović and Petrov all mean son of Ivan or Petar, and Serbian -ić works much like English -son.

Hungarian and Romanian are not Slavic languages, and their surnames show it. Hungarian names such as Nagy (big), Kiss (small), Tóth (Slovak) and Szabó (tailor) do not change with gender, and in Hungary the family name comes before the given name. Romanian names often end in -escu or -eanu. Popescu means son of the priest, and Munteanu means from the mountains. These endings stay the same for men and women, which makes Romanian surnames easy to use.

How to use the Eastern European last name generator

Start by deciding whether you need one country or a mix. A family saga set in Kraków needs consistent Polish names, while a thriller set on a train from Budapest to Bucharest can mix Hungarian, Serbian and Romanian surnames. Use the ends with box to pull out a single pattern, such as -ski, -ová, -escu or -enko. The rare setting brings up less familiar names that can help a character stand out on the page.

Remember to give a female character the correct form. If the generator returns Kowalski or Novák for a woman, change it to Kowalska or Nováková, and check the Baltic and Russian forms the same way. The first name preview lets you test pairs such as Zofia Wiśniewska, Ana Popescu or Marko Horvat. Keep the diacritics, since they affect pronunciation, then save your list, share a link or download a TXT file with meanings attached.