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Family name origins & meanings
- Jewish (Ashkenazic) : from a Hebrew Biblical name meaning ‘lightning’.
- Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic) : acronymic surname from a Hebrew patronymic phrase Ben Rabi Kalonymos ‘son of rabbi Kalonymos’.
- Czech (Barák) : status name for the owner of a cottage without land, from barák ‘cottage’, ‘shanty’, ‘cabin’.
- Hungarian : habitational name from a place called Barak, or from a pet form of one of two personal names, Bertalan (see Bartholomew) or Barabás (see Barabas).
- Turkish, Bosnian, and Croatian (Kordun) : nickname from barak ‘shaggy-haired’.
- Croatian (Dalmatian coast) : derivative of the personal name Bare, a pet form of Bartol (see Bartholomew) or Branimir.