[2] Bunjevci who remained in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as those in modern Croatia today, maintain that designation chiefly as a regional identity, and declare as ethnic Croats.

[11][12] Bunjevci are mainly Catholic and the majority still speaks Neo-Shtokavian Younger Ikavian dialect of the Serbo-Croatian pluricentric language with certain archaic characteristics.

[17] In the 20th century hinterland of Novi Vinodolski, called as Krmpote, the Primorje (Littoral or Coastal) Bunjevci were economically less powerful rural population and hence it had an attribution of "otherness" with negative connotation by urban citizens.

[23][24] The earliest certain mention date from the early 17th century, for example in Bačka is from 1622 when was recorded parochia detta Bunieuzi nell' arcivescovato Colociense.

[23][25] In Venetian Dalmatia there was Nicola Bunieuaz (1662, 1680), in Donje Moravice[disambiguation needed] of Zrinski family was Manojlo Bunieuach (1670), and in Slavonia Paval Bunyevacz (1697) and Nikola Bunjevac (1698) from Bosnia.

[27] The ethnonym is also mentioned by Bishop of Senj, Martin Brajković, in 1702 whose recorded folk tradition knew for the existence of five ethnic identities which constitute the population of Lika and Krbava, one of them being Catholic Vlachs also known as Bunjevci (Valachi Bunyevacz).

[28] In 1712–1714 census of Lika and Krbava was recorded only one Bunieuacz (Vid Modrich), however the military government usually used alternative term Valachi Catolici, while Luigi Ferdinando Marsili called them Meerkroaten (Littoral Croats).

[29][30] Alberto Fortis in Viaggio in Dalmazia ("Journey to Dalmatia") describing the Velebit (Montagne della Morlacca) recorded that the population was different from the earlier and called themselves as Bunjevci because they came from area of Buna in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

[17][38][39] Other also propose pejorative nickname Obonjavci which is recorded since 1199 in Zadar probably meaning soldiers without order and discipline,[40] and verb "buniti se" (to protest).

[51] Some scholars consider that the area of origin could have been between rivers Buna in Herzegovina and Bunë in Albania, along with the Adriatic-Dinaric belt (south Dalmatia and its hinterland, Boka Kotorska Bay, the coast of Montenegro and a part of its hinterland),[52] seemingly encompassing the territory of the so-called Red Croatia, regardless of the issue whether the entity is historically founded, which was partly inhabited by Croats according to Byzantine sources from 11th and 12th century.

[57][58] Some historians like Stjepan Pavičić and Mario Petrić consider they belonged to the broader population of Croatian Ikavian people living in the Dalmatian and Bosnian hinterland.

[75] As a sign of gratitude and soldiery, some foreign soldiers (mostly unpaid frontiersmen), inclusive Bunjevci, received land pastures and Austrian-Hungarian citizenship.

[77] When their 1905 request for having police patrol and church services in Croatian was denied by Hungarian language policy, one group of 1,200 people converted to Orthodoxy.

This was confirmed at the Great National Assembly of Serbs, Bunjevci, and other Slavs in Novi Sad, which proclaimed unification with the Kingdom of Serbia in November 1918.

After 1945, in SFR Yugoslavia the census of 1948 did not officially recognize the Bunjevci (nor Šokci), and instead merged their data with the Croats, even if a person would self-declare as a Bunjevac or Šokac.

[80][81][82] Proponents of a distinct Bunjevac ethnicity regard this time as another dark period of encroachment on their identity and feel that this assimilation did not help in the preservation of their language.

Robert Skenderović emphasizes that already before 1918 and the Communist rule, Bunjevci have made strong efforts to be recognized as part of the Croatian people.

1,700 were declared valid by national vote office and Budapest parliament gained a deadline of 9 January 2007 to solve the situation by approving or refusing the proposal.

The decision was based on the study of the Hungarian Academy of Science that denied the existence of an independent Bunjevac minority (they stated that Bunjevci are a Croatian subgroup).

[citation needed] The opposition of Croatian minority leaders also played part in the outcome of the vote, and the opinion of Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

[88] To this day, the descendants of Dalmatia or Illyria (Bunjevac) mercenaries who fought against the Turks, from the 17th century, still have the right to be citizens of Hungary (under strict conditions), even if they live outside the current Hungarian land borders.

[89][90] The level of funding for the National Councils depends on the results of a census, in which the Serbian citizens can register and self-declare as belonging to a state-recognized minority of their choice.

[102] In early 2005, the Bunjevac issue (bunjevačko pitanje) was again popularized when the Vojvodina government decided to allow the official use of the Štokavian dialect with ikavian pronunciation "bunjevac speech with elements of national culture" (Bunjevački govor s elementima nacionalne kulture)[103][104] in schools – in the first year in Cyrillic script and in the following school years in Latin script.

[114][115] Today, both major parts of the community (the pro-independent Bunjevac one and the pro-Croatian one) continue to consider themselves ethnologically as Bunjevci, although each subscribing to its own interpretation of the term.

Towns and villages with a Bunjevac population (names of settlements in Serbo-Croatian listed in brackets) include Baja, Csávoly (Čavolj), Csikéria (Čikerija), Katymár (Kaćmar), and Tompa.

As the former live in a region inhabited by a population of the same nationality, they are far more assimilated, show less appreciation for traditional clothing and heritage due to external factors, but although mostly aware of their identity there's indifference for connection to other Bunjevci branches in Lika and Danube.

dr. Andrija Anišić[153] and the venerable sister Eleonora Merković,[154][155] that the Christian significance of many Bunjevac customs are again appreciated, in contrast to the Communist and Socialist 20st century governing periods in the Balkans, where e.g. the harvest festival as Dužijanca, had only a secular character in public.

Also from the civilian population there are outstanding personalities (e.g. Ruža Juhas,[156] Kata Kuntić,[157] prof. dr. Gyula J. Obádovics,[158] Grgo Piuković,[159] Jozefa Skenderović)[160] who cherish and make efforts to preserve the Bunjevac heritage for future generations.

[166][167] Wearing Bunjevac traditional ceremonial garments (Ruvo),[176] has a symbolic meaning in the context that it shows the belonging to a specific social/ethnic group, lifestyle, and status.

The central holidays are based on the Roman Catholic feasts: Christmas, Easter, St. John, and Pentecost with specific Bunjevac folk customs: Historical examination shows a diversity of instruments in the Balkan region.