Bacalja families are Croats and they are mostly from the Island of Ugljan. In the past century, relatively most of Croatian residents bearing this family name were born in Zadar and on the Island of Ugljan.
Prevalence
About 80 people with faimily name Bacalja live in Croatia today, in 30 households. There were 20 of them in the middle of the past century, and their number multiplied. They are located in 6 Croatian counties, in 7 cities and four other places, mostly in Zadar (40), in Ugljan (15) and Preko (10) on the Island of Ugljan, Zagreb (<10), and in Cazma (<10).
In the sources analysed in the project Acta Croatica so far, the name is mentioned few times, the first time 2007 in source Encyclopaedia of Croatian Surnames.