Uzelac (Serbian Cyrillic: Узелац) is an old South Slavic surname. The name originates in the Balkan area in countries of former Yugoslavia such as Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro. It is predominantly used by ethnic Serbs of the Eastern Orthodox Church.
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The surname has a root in the verb "ùzēti" which means "to take (away)" in Croatian as well as Serbian and refers to the man who married into his wife's household, rather than taking her to his own, i.e. he was "taken (away)" from his family into another one.
In 1696 Bishop Sebastian Glavinić de Glamoć (1630–1697) while visiting Lika and Krbava discovers Serbian Orthodox Priest Nikola Uzelac who was offering his services not only to Serbian Orthodox but also to Roman Catholic people as well. Most Uzelacs come from the traditional Croatian regions of Lika, Kordun and Banija, which had been until 1881 part of the former Austrian Military Frontier with the Ottoman empire.
Many Uzelac's are also found in the United States, mostly in the states of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan. First Uzelac's in the states are recorded in 1900 Ellis Island Immigration station. The most famous Uzelac's in the United States are Kristal Uzelac, a retired gymnast, and Elliot Uzelac, former head football coach at Navy and Western Michigan University.
| This page or section lists people with the surname Uzelac, Uzelacz, Uzelatz. If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name(s) to the link. |