Zelko Family History
Zelko Name Meaning
Americanized form of Croatian Zeljko: nickname derived from the root of zelen ‘green’ probably applied to someone who had green eyes. Slovenian and Slovak: nickname derived from the root of zelje (Slovenian) zelí (Slovak dialect) ‘cabbage’. Americanized form of Slovenian and Croatian Željko: from the personal name Željko a hypocoristic derivative of želja ‘desire wish’ or a variant of Želko (see 4 below). Slovenian (Želko): from the personal name Želko a pet form of Slavic compound names such as Želimir based on Old Slavic želěti (Slovenian želeti) ‘to desire to wish’.
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022