Look up Kovacs, kovács, or Kovács in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Kovács or Kovacs, meaning blacksmith, is one of the most common Hungarian family names.^[1]

History

The name is found in Hungary and Hungarian expatriate communities. There are similar names with the Kováts or Kovách spellings. The name means "blacksmith" in Hungarian, and it is a loanword from Slavic languages. There are 221,688 people in Hungary who are named Kovács, making the name the second most common family name among Hungarians.

Notable people

• Ágnes Kovács (born 1981), Hungarian swimmer
• Angela Kovács (born 1964), Swedish actress
• Barbara Kovács (born 1993), Hungarian racewalker
• Balázs Kovács (born 1977), Hungarian hurdler
• Bill Kovacs (1949–2006), American pioneer of commercial computer animation technology
• Dan Kovacs (born 1970), American powerlifter
• Dénes Kovács (1930–2005), Hungarian violinist
• Edit Kovács (fencer) (born 1954), Hungarian foil fencer
• Edit Kovács (swimmer) (born 1951), Hungarian swimmer
• Ella Kovacs (born 1964), Romanian middle distance runner
• Ernie Kovacs (1919–1962), American entertainer
• Ervin Kováts (1927–2012), Hungarian-born Swiss chemist known for the Kovats retention index
• Frank Kovacs (1919–1990), American tennis player
• Fred Kovacs, American soccer player
• Gábor Kovács (financier) (born 1957), Hungarian financier, banker, art collector, philanthropist and founder of KOGART
• Greg Kovacs (born 1968), American bodybuilder
• Iván Kovács (born 1970), Hungarian épée fencer
• János Kovács (born 1985), Hungarian footballer
• Joe Kovacs (puppeteer) (born 1967), American puppeteer
• Joe Kovacs (born 1989), American track and field athlete
• Julie Kovacs (born 1959), American chemist
• Kálmán Kovács (disambiguation)
• Katalin Kovács (born 1976), Hungarian canoer
• Ladislav Kovács (born 1991), Slovak Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player
• László Kovács (politician) (born 1939), Hungarian politician and diplomat
• László Kovács (cinematographer) (1933–2007), Hungarian-American cinematographer
• Magda Kósáné Kovács (1940–2020), Hungarian politician and Member of the European Parliament
• Michael Kovats de Fabriczy (1724–1779), Hungarian noble and military officer. Known as a founding father of the United States Cavalry.
• Michal Kováč (1930–2016), first president of Slovakia
• Mišo Kovač (born 1941), Croatian singer
• Margit Kovács (1902–1977) Hungarian ceramist and sculptor
• Pál Kovács (1912–1995), Hungarian saber fencer
• Péter Kovács (footballer) (born 1978), Hungarian footballer
• Richard Kovacs (1885–1950), physician
• Robin Kovacs (born 1996), Swedish ice hockey player
• Rita Kovács (born 1970), Hungarian swimmer
• Sándor J. Kovács (born 1947), Hungarian-American cardiologist
• Sandy Koufax (born 1935), American baseball player
• Sharon Kovacs (born 1990), Dutch singer
• Stephen Kovacs (1972–2022), saber fencer and fencing coach, charged with sexual assault, died in prison
• István Kovács (footballer born 1920) (1920–1995), Romanian football manager
• Viktor Kovács (born 1973), Hungarian track and field athlete
• Zoltán Kovács (ice hockey) (born 1962), Hungarian ice hockey coach and administrator
• Zsófia Kovács (triathlete) (born 1988), Hungarian triathlete

Fictional characters

• Takeshi Kovacs, a fictional character in three books by Richard Morgan
• Walter Kovacs, the identity of the character Rorschach, in the DC Comic series Watchmen
• Kirilli Kovacs, a character in Darren Shan's series, The Demonata.

References