The origin of the name Tesla?

[poiuytrewq0987]

I don't see a lot of Serbs with this name as most have boring typical Slavic names ending with "vics" and starting with the name of their progenitor. So, I'm rather curious where it came from.

[Treffie]

Albanian?

[poiuytrewq0987]

Albanian?

No, Albanian surnames are way different.

[Lithium]

"тесла" in Bulgarian means little kind of axe for one hand.

[Saruman]

Serb surname from Lika. Originates from the village Raduče on the slopes of Velebit. In the census of 1712, one part of the village had Draganic surname, the other Tesla, from which it is indirectly concluded that part of the family changed their surname. It is assumed that the change could originate from one ancestor who had characteristically pronounced and strong upper jaw that reminded on tool for woodworking(Tesanje, Tesla). Ancestors of this family came from Pilatovci hamlet near Vucji Dol (Montenegro).

Croats claim Draganić's are nobles from Zadar, and his mothers surname Kalinic also as Croatian (according to one book by Croatian author Tesla said that).

[lei.talk]

Никола Тесла was born to Serbian parents in the village of Smiljan, Croatian Military Frontier, Austrian Empire near the town of Gospić, in the territory of modern-day Croatia. His baptismal certificate reports that he was born on 28 June (N.S. 10 July), 1856, to Father Milutin Tesla, a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church, Metropolitanate of Sremski Karlovci and Đuka Mandić. His paternal origin is thought to be either of one of the local Serb clans in the Tara valley or from the Herzegovinian noble Pavle Orlović. His mother, Đuka, daughter of a Serbian Orthodox Church priest, came from a family domiciled in Lika and Banija, but with deeper origins to Kosovo.

[Guapo]

I don't see a lot of Serbs with this name as most have boring typical Slavic names ending with "vics" and starting with the name of their progenitor. So, I'm rather curious where it came from.

There's thousands of Teslas in Chicago, go and ask them.

[Svipdag]

I remember reading long ago that "tesla" is a Serbian word meaning a dibble or digging stick. Could some Serbian please verify or refute this ?

[Юbermensch]

That's a tesla in Bulgarian

[Guapo]

I remember reading long ago that "tesla" is a Serbian word meaning a dibble or digging stick. Could some Serbian please verify or refute this ?

Surname is common in Czech Rep. and Poland too, must be an old slavic word for 'carpenter' me thinks.