Surname Bjeliš in modern Croatia

Bjeliš families are Croats and they are mostly from Opuzen area. In the past century, relatively most of Croatian residents bearing this family name were born in Metkovic and in Opuzen area. In places Mihalj and Podgradina in Opuzen area every sixth inhabitant had the family name Bjeliš.

Prevalence

About 280 people with faimily name Bjeliš live in Croatia today, in 110 households. There were 220 of them in the middle of the past century, and their number increased by 30 percent.
They are located in 7 Croatian counties, in 10 cities and 18 other places, mostly in Opuzen (130), Metkovic (45), Zagreb (20), and in Podgradina (20) and Mihalj (15) in Opuzen area.

Outside Croatia

At least two families with this surname emigrated from Croatia to the United States (1) and Austria (1).
Family name Bjeliš (including: Bielis , Bielish , Byelis and Bjelis ) is present in 6 countries on three continents. "Bielis " is used by some 70 people in Latvia and small number in the United States. "Bielish " is used by few people in the United States.

Characteristic first names

Aleksa Bjeliš, Mario Bjeliš, Marin Bjeliš, Andrija Bjeliš, Zlatko Bjeliš, Dado Bjeliš, Milan Bjeliš, Cicilija Bjeliš, Alen Bjeliš, Mate Bjeliš, Dragan Bjeliš, Darijo Bjeliš, Stipe Bjeliš, Josip Bjeliš, Vesna Bjeliš, Julijana Bjeliš, Ivana Bjeliš, Nikola Bjeliš, Danijela Bjeliš

Mentions in sources

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.

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