Find out how popular the last name Petrovic is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Petrovic.

Petrovic, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Petrovic surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Petrovic in America

Petrovic is the 15456th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Petrovic surname appeared 1,895 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Petrovic.

We can also compare 2010 data for Petrovic to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Petrovic

The surname Petrovic has its origins in Serbia and Croatia, stemming from the Slavic word "Petar", meaning "rock" or "stone". The name is a patronymic, indicating "son of Petar", and was commonly used to distinguish families and individuals in these regions from the Middle Ages onwards.

Petrovic is derived from the personal name Petar, which in turn comes from the Greek name Petros. This was the name given to the apostle Peter in the New Testament, and it became a popular Christian name throughout Eastern Europe after the region's conversion to Christianity.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Petrovic can be found in the Dubrovnik Archives, which date back to the 13th century. The archives contain numerous references to individuals with the surname Petrovic, indicating its widespread use in the region during this time.

In the 14th century, a prominent Serbian family known as the Petrović-Njegoš ruled over Montenegro. This dynasty produced several notable figures, including Petar I Petrović-Njegoš (1747-1830), a poet and philosopher who served as the Prince-Bishop of Montenegro.

Another famous bearer of the Petrovic surname was Georgi Petrović (1835-1920), a Serbian-American inventor who is credited with developing the first practical air-conditioning system. His innovations played a significant role in the development of modern refrigeration and air-conditioning technologies.

In the realm of sports, Aleksandar Petrović (1959-2021) was a Serbian professional basketball player and coach. He won numerous titles as a player and later became a successful coach, leading the Yugoslav national team to the gold medal at the 2001 EuroBasket.

Radovan Petrović (1914-1942) was a Serbian Partisan and communist revolutionary who fought against the Nazi German occupation of Yugoslavia during World War II. He was posthumously awarded the Order of the People's Hero, one of Yugoslavia's highest military honors.

Milivoje Petrović (1888-1957) was a Serbian mathematician who made significant contributions to the fields of differential equations and functional analysis. He is particularly renowned for his work on the Picard iteration method and the Petrović operator.

The surname Petrovic continues to be prevalent in Serbia, Croatia, and other regions of the former Yugoslavia, as well as among Serbian and Croatian diaspora communities around the world. Its long history and widespread use reflect the cultural and linguistic ties that bind these Slavic nations.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Petrovic

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Petrovic.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Petrovic was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Petrovic has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Petrovic was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Petrovic, please contact us.

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