Czechia Naming Customs

SURNAMES AND GIVEN NAMES Czechoslovakia

SURNAMES

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

In earlier centuries throughout Europe, one name was usually sufficient. But as populations increased it became necessary to distinguish between individuals with the same name. The problem was usually solved by adding descriptive information. Thus we find John the tailor, John the son of Nicholas, John the short, John the newcomer, or John from Moravia. When these "surnames" first came into being they were applied only to one person and not to the whole family. In time, these names became hereditary so that they passed from generation to generation.

It is not possible to determine the exact year or even the century when hereditary family names were taken. In most countries, the process took two or three centuries to become universally established in the society. Hereditary names were first used by the nobility and wealthy land owners. Later the custom was followed by merchants and townspeople and eventually by the common village folk.

Surnames in the modern sense were first used among Byzantine and Venetian nobility about the ninth century. From Venice the practice spread to much of Western Europe. By the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the custom was widely practiced in Britain and France. In Central Europe; Germany, Hungary, and Austria; including the area now in Czechoslovakia, the practice was well established by the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

MASCULINE AND FEMININE SURNAMES

Czech and Slovak surnames are affected by gender. A woman's surname must have a feminine ending. Grammatically there are two types of surnames: adjectives and nouns. Surname endings vary according to the type of surname and the sex of the person.

Adjectives

Most adjective surnames end in ý for males and á for females.

Examples: Male Female erný erná Novotný Novotná Veselý Veselá Palacký Palacká

Other types of adjective surnames end in í and in . These surnames are the same for females as for males.

Examples: Male Female Krejí Krejí Jirk Jirk

Nouns

Noun surnames end with a consonant or a short vowel (a vowel that doesn't have an accent mark ). Noun surnames are feminized by adding the ending ová

Examples: Male Female Novák Nováková Haneš Hanešová Bartoš Bartošová Havlík Havlíková Krk Krková Šlytr Šlytrová

Surnames that end with an a, e, or o drop the final letter before adding the ová.

Examples: Male Female Kuera Kuerová Homolka Homolková Housle Houslová Miko Miková

Štýblo	 Štýblová

Surnames ending with  are quite uncommon. These usually simply drop the before adding the ová. Some however keep the  and add a t before adding the ová.

Examples: Male Female Bechyn Bechyová Vlišt Vlišová but Dit Dittová Hrab Hrabtová

Surnames that end in ec or ek (or rarely ev or el) drop the e before adding the ová.

Examples: Male Female Moravec Moravcová Šálek Šálková Horáek Horáková Broškev Broškvová Mandel Mandlová or Mandelová

Uncommon surnames ending with k or c may or may not drop the  .

Example: Male Female Dank Danková or Daková Bartnonc Bartocová or Bartoncová

In many cases, even German and Hungarian names are subjected to the ová ending.

Example: Male Female Wagner Wagnerová Nagy Nagyová

GIVEN NAMES

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

In the Czech lands and Slovakia, the major source of given names was the names of Roman Catholic saints. Many of these were borrowed from foreign sources including names of Greek, Latin, Hebrew and German origin.

Other names are of purely Slavic origin. Among these the most popular were compound names which consist of two Slavic roots joined together. The following list gives the meanings of most of the various Slavic prefixes and suffixes.

PREFIX ROOTS

Blaho blessed Bohu God's Bole more Bor warrior Boi see Bohu Brani defense Breti ring out Broni see Brani Dali further, more

Dobro good Draho dear, valued Hori mountains Hosti guest Hvzdo star Jaro strong, fierce Krasno beautiful Kraso see Krasno Keso strong Kvto flower Ladi see Vladi Libo beloved Lido see Ludo Lubo see Libo Ludo the people Luti fierce Milo love Miro peace Msti revenge Radi joy Rati soldier Rosti increase Slavo glory Sob self Stani everlasting Svato strong (or Holy) Sveto see Svato Svtlo light Vac more Vit live Vladi rule Vlasti homeland Voj warrior Vrati return Zby remain Zde here (or do) Zeli desire Zito life

SUFFIX ROOTS

bor	fight, warrior
chval	praise
dan	given
dar	gift

mil	love
mír	peace
mysl	think
pluk	defense of people
rad	joy
slav	glory
tch	haste
voj	warrior
van	individual
vit	life

Thus Vladimir means "rule of peace" and Dalibor means "continue fighting." Of course, not all suffixes are found with all prefixes.

In many cases male names had a female version created by adding a

Male Female

Jaroslav Jaroslava Bohumil Bohumila Vladimír Vladimíra František Františka

Most Czech and Slovak names (of all origins) end in a consonant (František, Jan, etc.) and female names usually end with a (Kateina) or e (Marie). Most names have nicknames or diminutive forms which end in a, ek, or ik. For example: Franta from František; Maa or Maka from Marie; Jarda or Jarek from Jaroslav, Pavlik from Pavel.

The records in Czechoslovakia were kept in several different languages. The birth record of an individual may have been written in Latin and the marriage record may have been in German or in Hungarian. Usually the given names were translated into the language of the document. In most genealogical reports from Czechoslovakia, names are recorded as they appear in the original documents. This can cause confusion since an ancestor may appear as Vojtch in one record and Adalbertus in another. The name list given here includes most of the common names found in Czechoslovakia and gives versions in Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Latin, German and English.

Although this list includes many names; it should be noted that certain names are enormously more common then others. The directory for the city of Prague in l896 shows that 7O% of the male population bore the five most popular names: Josef 22%, František l5%, Václav l2%, Antonín ll%, Jan lO%. Other very popular male names were Karel, Vojtch, Matj, Jií, Alojzy (Alois), Martin and Jakub. The same source indicates that among females 6O% bore the five most common names: Marie 22%, Anna 2l%, Josefa, 7%, Kateina 6%, Antonie 4%. Other very popular female names were Františka, Barbora, Terezie and Dorota.