What ethnicity is the last name ending in nik?

Answer 1

i could be wrong, but i believe its slovenian. well, at least my last name ends in -nik and i know for a fact that my great-grandfather was born there when it was part of the austro-hungarian empire.

there are surnames on -nik in nearly all slavic states - russia, Belarus, poland, Czech Republic, slovakia, ukraina, serbia, Croatia. there were many migrations among these countries. it is believed that surnames on -nik developed in contact with jidish.

Answer 2

The last name ending in "nik" is often of Slavic or Eastern European origin, including countries like Russia, Poland, and Ukraine. This suffix indicates a commonality in these regions but does not necessarily denote a specific ethnicity.