[1] It derives from Jovan, which is comparable to John in English.
The part ov designates possession: Jovanov means John's.
So, the last name can be translated as John's son leading to the English equivalent last name of Johnson.
As of 2014, 86.2% of all known bearers of the surname Jovanović were residents of Montenegro (frequency 1:48), 6.2% of Bosnia and Herzegovina (1:327), 3.0% of Serbia (1:118), 2.1% of Kosovo (1:514) and 1.5% of Croatia (1:1,614).
[citation needed] In Serbia, the frequency of the surname was higher than national average (1:48) in the following districts:[2]