Barak Family History

Jewish (Israeli): from the Biblical Hebrew personal name Barak meaning ‘lightning’. The surname mainly represents a Hebraicized form of several original eastern Ashkenazic surnames having similar consonants. Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): acronymic surname from the first letters of the Hebrew patronymic phrase Ben Rabi Kalonymos ‘son of rabbi Kalonymos’. The personal name Kalonymos means ‘beautiful name’ in Greek.

Turkish and Croatian: descriptive nickname from Turkish barak ‘hairy’ which is also a loanword in Croatian. As a Turkish name this is also an ornamental name meaning ‘thick-piled downy cloak or carpet’. Croatian: from an old pet form of the personal name Bartolomej (see Bartholomew) or of its vernacular variants Bartol or Bartul.

Czech and Slovak (Barák): status name for someone who lived in a cottage without land from barák ‘cottage cabin’. Hungarian: habitational name from a place called Barak.

Hungarian: from a pet form of either of two personal names Bartalan (an old variant of Bertalan; see Bartholomew) or Barabás (see Barabas).

Muslim (Afghanistan): from the Arabic personal name Barak derived from the Semitic root meaning ‘blessing’. See also Mubarak.