Re: INFO

Hello Nick-

I believe you are looking for the RANIC (pronounced RAH-NEECH) surname.It is most certainly of Serbian origin and not exactly rare.We have some evidence that the surname is of Serbian Montenegrin origin, but as we have never done any in depth research on the surname we cannot state this as a fact.Other evidence we have run into shows that the surname is from the region around the Morava in Serbia.

As for the VUJNOVIC surname (also VOJNOVIC - both have the same roots, but spelling changed over the yrs).The VUJNOVIC family originates from southern Montenegro and can still be found there and in other places in the ex-YU region (Serbia, Dalmatia, other parts of Croatia, some in Bosnia, etc).The Vujnovices in Montenegro and Serbia celebrate St. Nikola (Dec. 19th) as their patron saint and the Dalmatian Vujnovices celebrate St. Archangel Mihajlo (Arandjelovdan - Nov. 21st).Family "slavas" (celebration of saint) are very handy info when it comes to linking families with the same Serbian surname. By the way, the Vujnovic family has two crests, one was received from the Austro-Hungarian empire in the mid 18th century (see http://www.arhaicum.comhttp://www.arhaicum.com )and the other (much older Serbian Coat-of-Arms) that I only have a picture of and maybe could scan and send it to you if you are interested? For serbian surnames in Dalmatia visit:

http://www.benkovac.org.yu/obicaji/prezimena/v.htmhttp://www.benkovac.org.yu/obicaji/prezimena/v.htm

I hope these little bits of info help, though I am sure Robert Jerin will be able to help much more and perhaps tell you where and how you can find records from Gomirje, Croatia.

Good luck-
Danica Radisic-Visnjic
The Serbian Genealogy Foundation
http://www.Serbia-Today.comhttp://www.Serbia-Today.com