Family name origins & meanings
- Czech and Slovak (Pelikán), Hungarian, and German : habitational name for someone living at a house distinguished by the sign of a pelican (Czech and Hungarian pelikán, Middle High German pellikān). The pelican was regarded as a symbol of piety in Christian tradition: the female pelican was supposed, in medieval religious folklore, to feed her young with her own blood by plucking the feathers from her breast. Consequently, the family name might be a nickname for a selfless person.