Golub

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records, and ○ marks a model's transliteration; click a spelling to open its page.

Attested across 10 languages in the etymology graph.

Golub is also recorded as 3 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Ukrainian surname42 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Ukraine, Russia, United States, Kazakhstan

  Languages: Ukrainian, Russian, English

  Also written Голуб, Голубь, Holub, Holúb, Golub'

• a separate name2 spellings in the group

  Also written Golub'

• English surname15 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Israel, Germany, United Kingdom

  Languages: English, Hebrew, German

  Also written Golob, גולוב, Golov, Goloub, Ğöĺöb

38 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Golub is also recorded in 4 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• 1 . Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic), Ukrainian, and Belorussian: variant of Holub. 2. German: from Sorbian golub ‘dove’, a metonymic occupational name for someone who bred or looked after doves, which were reared for food in the Middle Ages. See also Holub.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• In Serbo-Croatian, dove, pigeon

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Serbo-Croatian, columba

  as a word·Skok, Etimologijski rječnik hrvatskoga ili srpskoga jezika (1971-74)

• In Russian, var of Golub'.

  as a word·A Dictionary of Period Russian Names (Wickenden / Goldschmidt 1996)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

• Gene Golubb. 1932USAmerican computer scientist and numerical analyst (1932-2007)
• David Golubb. 1950USAmerican pianist and conductor
• Marina Golubb. 1957RURussian actress (1957-2012)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

37 registers and reference works attest this spelling, across 21 countries.

Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.

What does the name Golub mean, and where does it come from?

“Golub” in Slavic means pigeon; Jonah = the pigeon. Recorded by The Origin of Jewish Family Names: Morphology and History.

Which countries have the most people with the surname Golub?

In the United States, the national register counted about 2.4 thousand people named Golub, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled golub. After it come Croatia, Poland, Slovenia and Brazil; the country table on this page ranks them.

Where is Golub most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Golub is densest in Croatia — about 1 in 2.2 thousand people — even though United States holds more of our records for it.

How common is the name Golub?

In the United States, the national register counted 2,364 people named Golub in 2010, about 1 in 141 thousand residents.

How common is Golub compared with other names?

In Croatia, Golub is the 194th most common surname of 72,581 surnames recorded there.