If you have a baby daughter on the way and you’re looking to give her a Croatian name, or you are interested in knowing the meaning of the name of a Croatian girl you like, this list covers the most popular traditional Croatian girl names and their meanings.
Giving your baby girl a Croatian name is nice if you want to honor her Croatian heritage, or maybe because you are married to a Croatian, or simply because you love the country and how names here sound.
These are all traditional Croatian names and their meanings, and as you will see, there are plenty of great ones to choose from. Let’s begin!
Croatian Girl Names and Meanings
Let’s not waste any time and instead let’s check out the full list of names below!
Alba – Derived from the Latin word albus, meaning “white, bright.”
Albina – Feminine form of Albin, meaning “white, fair.”
Anamarija – A combination of the names Ana and Marija.
Andrea – Feminine form of the name Andrew, which is the English form of the Greek name Andreas. This name was derived from the Greek word andreios, meaning “manly, masculine.”
Anja – A form of the name Anya, derived from the name Hannah, which was ultimately derived from the Hebrew name Channah, meaning “favor, grace.”
Antonija – Feminine form of Anton, derived from the Roman family name Antonius, meaning “priceless” or “inestimable.”
Barbara – Derived from the Greek word barbaros, meaning “foreign.”
Biljana – Traditional Slavic name derived from bilje, meaning “herbs” or “plants.”
Biserka – From the word biser, meaning “pearl.”
Božena – Derived from bog, the Slavic word for “God,” meaning “blessed” or “divine.”
Cvita – From the word cvijet, meaning “flower.”
Danica – Means “morning star” or “Venus” in Slavic languages.
Dora – Short form of the names Dorothy, Theodora or Isidora.
Dorotea – Feminine form of the Greek name Dorotheos, meaning “gift of God.” Derived from the Greek words doran, meaning “gift” and theos, meaning “God.”
Dragica – Feminine form of Drago, derived from the Slavic word drag, meaning “precious” or “dear.”
Dunja – Means “quince” in Croatian, a fruit associated with love and fertility.
Ela – Most likely a diminutive form of the name Elizabeta, which is the Croatian form of the name Elisabeth. Ultimately derived from the Hebrew name Elisheva, this name means “my God is an oath.”
Elena – A form of the name Helen, which is derived from the Greek name Helene. This name was either derived from the Greek word helene, meaning “torch” or “corposant” or derived from the Greek word selene, meaning “moon.”
Ema – A variant of the name Emma, which originally was a short form for Germanic names beginning with the name element ermen, which meant “universal, whole.”
Eva – a Latinate form of the name Eve, which comes from the Hebrew name Chawwah. Derived from the Hebrew word chawah, which meant “to breathe.”
Filipina – Feminine Polish form of the name Filip, derived from the Greek name “Philippos,” this name means “friend of horses.”
Franka – Croatian form of the name Franca, which comes from the name Francesca. This name is a feminine form of the name Francis, which is the English form of the Late Latin name Franciscus, which meant “Frenchman.”
Gabriela – Feminine form of the name Gabriel, which is derived from the Hebrew name Gavri’el, meaning “God is my hero.”
Hana – This is another form of the name Hannah that is popular in Croatia.
Ines – Croatian form of the name Inés, which is the Spanish form of the name Agnes. This name is the Latinized form of the Greek name Hagne, which was derived from the Greek name Hagnos, meaning “chaste.”
Iris – This name simply means “Rainbow” in Greek.
Ivana – Feminine form of the name Ivan, which is a modern form of the Old Slavic name Іѡаннъ, which was derived from the Greek name Ioannes, ultimately derived from the Hebrew name Yochanan, meaning “God is gracious.”
Jana – A Croatian and Serbian variant of the name Ana, which is also a form of the name Hannah.
Jadranka – Derived from Jadran, the Croatian name for the Adriatic Sea, meaning “woman from the Adriatic.”
Jasna – From the Slavic word jasan, meaning “clear, bright.”
Josipa – Croatian feminine form of the name Joseph, the Latin form of the Greek name Ioseph, which was ultimately derived from the Hebrew name Yosef, meaning “he will add” or less literally “God shall give.”
Karla – Croatian feminine form of the name Charles, which comes from the Germanic name Karl. This name was derived from a Germanic word that meant “man.”
Klara – A form of the name Clara, which is the feminine form of the Late Latin name Clarus, meaning “bright, clear, famous.”
Kristina – A form of the name Christina, which comes from Christiana, the feminine form of the name Christian. This name was originally derived from the Latin name Christianus, meaning “a Christian.”
Lea – A form of the name Leah, derived from the Latin name Le’ah, from the Hebrew word leah, meaning “weary.”
Leona – Feminine form of the name Leon, which was derived from the Greek word leon, meaning “lion.”
Lucija – Croatian form of the name Lucia, which is the feminine form of the Roman name, Lucius, derived from the Latin word lux, meaning “light.”
Ljubica – From the word ljubica, meaning “violet” (the flower), also linked to love (ljubav).
Ljiljana – Means “lily,” symbol of purity.
Magdalena – A form of the name Magdalene, which meant “from Magdala” a village on the Sea of Galilee whose name meant “tower” in Hebrew.
Maja – A form of the Greek name Maria, which was ultimately derived from the Hebrew name Miryam. The meaning of this name is unknown, some theories state this name might mean “sea of bitterness” or “rebelliousness”, however it was most likely derived from the Egyptian word mry, meaning “beloved.”
Marta – A form of the name Martha, which comes from the Aramaic word marta’ meaning “the lady, the mistress.”
Martina – Feminine form of the name Martin, derived from the Roman name Martinus, which comes from the Roman name Martis, which is related to Mars, the name of the Roman God of War.
Matea – Feminine form of the name Mateo, which is the Spanish form of the name Matthew. Matthew is the English form of the Greek name Matthaios, which comes from the Hebrew name Mattiyahu, meaning “Gift from Yahweh” or “Gift from God.”
Milena – Derived from the Slavic word milu, meaning “gracious, dear, pleasant.”
Natali – Croatian form of the name Natalie, which comes from the Late Latin name Natalia, meaning “Christmas day.”
Speaking of the winter holidays… make sure you check out my article where I teach you how to say Merry Christmas in Croatian!
Nika – Feminine form of the name Nikola, which comes from the Greek name Nikolas, meaning “victory of the people.” From the Greek words nike and laos meaning “victory” and “people.”
Nina – This name most likely originated as a short form for names that ended in nina, such as Antonina.
Ozrena – Feminine form of Ozren, meaning “vision” or “view.”
Patricia – Feminine form of the name Patrick, which comes from the Latin name Patricius, which meant “nobleman.”
Rajka – Derived from raj, meaning “paradise” or “heaven.”
Ružica – Diminutive of Ruža, meaning “little rose.”
Sara – A form of the name Sarah, which means “lady, noblewoman, princess.”
Slavica – From the word slava, meaning “glory” or “fame.”
Stana – Derived from stati, meaning “to stand, to stay,” symbolizing stability.
Tamara – Russian form of the Hebrew name Tamar, which means “date palm.”
Valentina – Feminine form of the name Valentine, which comes from the Roman name Valentinus, which itself was derived from the name Valens, meaning “strong, vigorous, healthy.”
Vedrana – Derived from vedar, meaning “cheerful, clear, bright.”
Viktorija – Form of the name Victoria, which is also the feminine form of the name Victor. This name means “victory” in Latin.
Zdenka – Derived from zdenac, meaning “well” or “spring of water.”
Zora – Means “dawn” in Croatian.
Zorica – Diminutive of Zora, meaning “little dawn.”
Zvjezdana – Means “starry” or “of the stars,” from zvijezda (star).
This would be my list of Croatian girl names. Plenty of beautiful suggestions above, many of which sound truly unique, especially if you’re living in Western Europe or on other continents. No matter which one you pick, I am sure you will be happy with how the name sounds.
I was personally expecting these names to be similar to Romanian names, for example, due to the proximity of the two countries, but in reality there are just a few common names. Interesting.
Either way, Croatian names are unique and sound really nice as they draw inspiration from all regions around the country. If you want to check out male Croatian names, I’ve got you covered as well: here’s my full list of traditional Croatian boy names.
What are the most common Croatian girl names?
While trends are changing and every few years new names become more popular than others, some of the most popular names from this list are:
Nika, Lucija, Marta, Sara, Eva, and Dora.
The trend in Croatia is, at the moment, to go for the shorter, more latin-sounding names. But trends change, so you should honestly pick something that you think sounds good and/or has a nice meaning.
This way, you will make sure that your baby who will grow to be just like any amazing Croatian woman out there, no matter where she gets to live her life.
Conclusion
There we have it, whether you were looking for a name for your daughter or wanted to know more about the name of a girl you like, I hope this list had you covered.
If you have additional suggestions – names that maybe I missed, let me (and everybody else) know by sharing a comment below.