An Insight into Family Names of Croats in Montenegro

Sa？etak The paper discusses 310 Croatian family names in the parts of Montenegro in which Croats are indigenous (Boka kotorska, Spi？, Bar with the surrounding villages, and ？estani). The first part of the paper, provides dialectological data, pointing out that Croatian dialectological research has not so far included the variants spoken east of Boka kotorska. It also discusses the fact that the variants spoken in the wider Bar area are the only variants which form the Croatian linguistic continuum on the territory which directly borders with the territory where the Albanian language is spoken. Furthermore, the development of a particular anthroponymic formula is analyzed, a formula that has been strongly influenced by different historical conditions (mainly Turkish conquests, but also the boundaries in present-day Montenegro after the withdrawal of the Turks). In the central part of the paper, the division of family names is based on their motivation and linguistic origin. Those names are also compared to family names of other nations (members of other South Slavic nations, as well as Albanians) that live in those parts