Just as in the vast majority of other European countries the majority of Serbian surnames are patronymic. This means that the surname Jovanovic would be derived from one of the ancestors with the name of Jovan. In some very rare cases you can see the metronymic naming, but this is very rare.
The way surnames originated can be diplayed on the following way:
Patronymic; naming after one of the ancestors,
Occupational; naming after ones profession e.g. Strugar,
Geographical; being named after a geographic location,
Descriptive; being named after a special physical feature inside ones family,
Anecdotal; being named after a particular event in ones live,
