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Krpan name?

Krpan name?

Diana Krpan (View posts)
Posted: 26 Sep 2002 12:11AM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: Krpan
I have recently married into the Krpan family of Bladworth, Saskatchewan, Canada. and I would like to know if the orginal Croatian spelling of Krpan included a vowel, or are the letters "Krp" the original spelling. Are all the Kerpan's, Korpan's, and Karpan's and Krpan's from the same family lineage. Was there a name change along the way, and if so, who made it?

Re: Krpan name?

James Burkey (View posts)
Posted: 25 Mar 2004 3:45AM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: Krpan Zdunic Zdunich Burkey
My understanding of the name is that the original Croatian does not have the vowel. It was at Ellis Island (or other points of entry into the US) that vowels were added to the names in order to "Americanize" them.

My grandmother Mary Krpan Zdunich of Croatia(and now Joliet, IL) has always spelled it without the vowel.

Hope that helped?

James Burkey

Re: Krpan name?

Posted: 5 Jan 2006 10:07PM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: Karpan, Krpan, Sikic
It was the same with my family. My grandfather was a Karpan, whose grandmother held the name Krpan when she came over - i'm not sure if it is from Lovinac, Sveti Rok or not. The other name that came from southern Croatia was Sikic (from Stikada)

Re: Krpan name?

James Burkey (View posts)
Posted: 6 Jan 2006 2:04AM GMT
Classification: Query
I think this a pretty common occurrence, especially (perhaps) in Western Nations that like everything to sound as English as possible.

The slavic languages are not so vowel-dependent - and if you think about it "Krpan" and "Kirpan" and "Kerpan" all sound exactly the same. So, some families changed spellings themselves in order to fit in better (my father's side went from Burki (with umlauts over the u) to Burkey because Americans don't use umlauts and they wanted to fit in better. The Krpan name, I believe, was changed by officials at Ellis Island who expected immigrants to be more American in their spellings of names.

Re: Krpan name?

Posted: 6 Jan 2006 4:17AM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: krpan, sikic,
It does pretty much sound the same, but it makes the quest more difficult on us. Now i just need to track down the surname Sikic and i might actually get somewhere.

Re: Krpan name?

James Burkey (View posts)
Posted: 6 Jan 2006 10:51PM GMT
Classification: Query
I know there were some sikic families in Joliet, but I did not know where they were from or anything. If my mom knows anything, I will let you know (she grew up in the Croatian part of town and went to the Croat school.)

Re: Krpan name?

Posted: 8 Jan 2006 10:10AM GMT
Classification: Query
that's great. thanks for all your help.

Re: Krpan name?

Berny Wickersham (View posts)
Posted: 10 Jul 2006 11:19PM GMT
Classification: Query
I am going to Croatia this month for the first time. I typed in the name Sikic and found your e-mail. My father was born in Gracac, Croatia. He moved to the US at a very young age in the early 1900's. For some period of time he lived in Superior WYO and knew a family by the name of Krpan. I don't know if this is how they spelled it or not. The ladies name was Ann. They owned a restaurant there. I don't really know anything else about them.

Re: Krpan name?

Posted: 5 Jun 2007 6:01PM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: Krpan, Sikic
Well thanks anyways. If you find out anything more on the name Sikic, I would appreciate any assistance you might be able to offer. My grandfather's name was spelled Karpan, but his grandmother's name was spelled Krpan. Her husband;/partner was a Sikic.

Re: Krpan name?

Posted: 29 Oct 2008 9:26PM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: Krpan, Karpan
My Grandpa (John Krpan) changed his families name to Karpan when he started having kids. Why I am not sure. I've never seen the birth certificate so I can not confirm the spelling. But we have alot of family in Alberta, some in BC as well. I do know he was borm just outside of Bosnia.
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