Vuk

Vuk (Serbian Cyrillic: Вук) is a male Slavic given name, predominantly recorded among Serbs as well as Croatians, Bulgarians, Macedonians, Slovenes, Russians, and Ukrainians. The name literally means "wolf". Vuk Karadžić, 19th-century Serbian philologist and ethnographer, explained the traditional, apotropaic use of the name: a woman who had lost several babies in succession, would name her newborn son Vuk, because it was believed that the witches, who "ate" the babies, were afraid to attack the wolves. In the Serbian epic poetry, the wolf is a symbol of fearlessness. Vuk was the 17th most popular name for boys in Serbia in the period 2003–2005.
There are many given names derived from the noun vuk. The following are male names recorded among the Serbs by the 19th century: Vukaj, Vuko, Vukoje, Vukovoj, Vukovoje, Vukal, Vukalj, Vukajlo, Vukola, Vukel, Vukelja, Vukula, Vukan, Vukolin, Vukota, Vukić, Vukadin, Vukac, Vukas, Vuksan, Vukač, Vukašin, Vukša, Vukdrag, Vukman, Vukoman, Vukmir, Vukomir, Vukmilj, Vukoslav, Vukosav, Dobrovuk, Vučo, Vučko, Vučela, Vučan, Vučen, Vučin, Vučihna, Vučina, Vučeta, Vučić, Vučkulin, Vujo, Vujan, Vujat, Vujadin, Vujin, Vujeta, Vujčeta, Vujčin, Vujić, Vujko, Vujak, Vujica, Vujača, Vujaš, Vule, Vulina, Vulić, Vulic, and Vuleš. There are also female names derived from vuk: Vuka, Vukana, Vujana, Vukava, Vučica, Vukadinka, Vujadinka, Vukmira, Vukomirka, Vukomanka, and Vukosava. All the derivatives from vuk were regarded as apotropaic names. In the period 2003–2005, Vukašin was the 30th and Vukan the 82nd most popular name for boys in Serbia.
The name Vuk is recorded in Serbian sources dating before 1400 in the form of Vlk (Old Cyrillic: Влъкъ), with a syllabic l. Through a sound change in Serbian that took place after 1400, the syllabic l turned into the vowel u. In this way Vlk became Vuk, and by the same process the initial Vuk- and Vuč- in the derivatives developed from Vlk- and Vlč-; e.g., Vukašin from Vlkašin. The names Vujo and Vule are the bases for the derivatives starting with Vuj- and Vul-. They are formed from vuk on the same pattern as the pet names Brajo and Brale are formed from brat "brother".
The given name Vlk and its derivatives, Vlkoň, Vlček, and Vlčata for males, and Vlkava and Vlčenka for females, were recorded among the Czechs, while Wilkan was recorded among the Poles. Janusz, the Archbishop of Gniezno (1374–1382), was nicknamed Suchy Wilk or Suchowilk "dry wolf". Serbian surnames Belovuk and Bjelovuk mean "white wolf".

---

Means wolf in Serbian.

Vukmir, Vukan

Popularity	Name	Birth Year	Description
1	Vuk Jeremić	1975	Serbian politician
2	Vuk Karadžić	1787	Serbian philologist and linguist
3	Vuk Drašković	1946	Serbian politician
4	Vuk Kostić	1979	Serbian actor
5	Vuk Branković	1345	Serbian medieval nobleman
6	Vuk Radivojević	1983	Serbian basketball player
7	Vuk Rašović	1973	Serbian footballer
8	Vuk Grgurević	1440	Titular Despot of Serbia from 1471 until his death in 1485
9	Vuk Ćosić	1967	Slovenian artist
10	Slobodan Vuk	1989	Croatian footballer
11	Vuk Mitošević	1991	Serbian football player
12	Vuk Mandušić		Morlach leader
13	Vuk Lazarević	1380	Serbian prince
14	Vuk Kulenovic	1946	Bosnia and Herzegovina musician
15	Vuk Sotirović	1982	Serbian footballer
16	Vuk Rupnik	1912
17	Vuk Kosača		Serbian nobility
18	Vuk Lazović	1988	Montenegrin handball player
19	Vuk Isakovič		Serbian military commander
20	Vuk Rađenović	1983	Serbian bobsledder
21	Vuk Đurić	1988	Footballer
22	Vuk Obradović	1947	Serbian politician and general
23	Vuk Krsto Frankopan	1578	Croatian noble
24	Goran Vuk	1987	Croatian footballer
25	Nicole Vuk	1995	German handball player and association football player
26	Vuk Martinović	1989
27	Vuk Vrčević	1811	Serbian writer
28	Vuk D. Karadžić	1948
29	Vuk Orle		Serbian chieftain
30	Vuk
31	Stanko Vuk	1912
32	Rudolf Vuk	1913	Sports shooter
33	Vuk Medenica	1989
34	Vuk Milošević	1987
35	Vuk Matić		Serbian opera singer
36	Vuk Echtner	1905	Czech esperantist
37	Ivan Vuk	1882
38	Božo Vuk Vidas	1894
39	Vuk Vukčić
40	Vuk Kotroman
41	Vuk Vukoslavić
42	Mihály Vuk	1875