Czech names are composed of agiven name and afamily name (surname). Czechs typically get one given name – additional names may be chosen by themselves uponbaptism but they generally use one. With marriage, the bride typically adopts the bridegroom's surname.
In theCzech Republic, names are simply known asjména ("names") or, if the context requires it,křestní jména ("baptismal names"). The singular form isjméno. A native Czech given name may haveChristian roots or traditionalSlavic pre-Christian origin (e.g.Milena,Božena,Jaroslav,Václav,Vojtěch).
It used to be a legal obligation for parents to choose their child's name from a list that was pre-approved by the government. Special permission was necessary for other names with exceptions for minorities and foreigners. Since theVelvet revolution in 1989, parents have had the right to give their child any name they wish, provided it is used somewhere in the world and is not insulting or demeaning. However, in recent years the common practice has been that most birth-record offices look for the name in the bookJak se bude vaše dítě jmenovat? (What is your child going to be called?),[1] which is a semi-official list of "allowed" names. If the name is not found there, authorities are unwilling to register the child's name without a professional opinion (odborné stanovisko) from the Czech Language Institute (Ústav pro jazyk český).[2]
The most popular boys' names between 1999 and 2007 wereJan (John),Jakub (Jacob or James),Tomáš (Thomas) andMartin. Among the most popular girls' names wereTereza (Theresa),Kateřina (Katherine),Eliška (Elise),Natálie andAdéla.[3] In 2016,Jakub,Jan,Tomáš,Filip andEliška,Tereza,Anna,Adéla were the most popular names.[4]
Names, like all nouns inCzech language, aredeclined depending on theirgrammatical case. For example, one would sayPavel kouše sendvič ("Paul bites a sandwich"), butPes kouše Pavla ("A dog bites Paul") andPes ukousl Pavlovi prst ("The dog bit Pavel's finger off"; literally "The dog bit a finger off for Pavel"(dative case); "Pavel's finger" (possessive) would be "Pavlův prst"). Unlike the closely relatedSlovak language, Czech has avocative case used when calling or addressing someone. For instance, one would say,Pavle, pozor pes! (Pavel, watch out for the dog!).
While Czechs share relatively few given names—roughly 260 names have a frequency above 500 in the Czech Republic—there are tens of thousands of Czech surnames (singular and plural:příjmení). These are similar in origin to English ones and may reflect:
Some Czech surnames have a descriptive, colorful nature, such asBrzobohatý (soon to be rich),Volopich (pricking an ox),Urvinitka (tear a string),Rádsetoulal (liked wandering around),Stojaspal (slept standing),Vítámvás (I welcome you),Tenkrát (back in those days),Schovajsa (hide yourself!),Nebojsa (fearless man),Skočdopole (jump in a field!),Vozihnoj (transport the manure),Osolsobě (salt for yourself!),Ventluka (knocking outward),Nejezchleba (don't eat bread!),Potměšil (taunting man),Přecechtěl (he wanted anyway),Drahokoupil (he bought costly),Nepovím (I'm not going to tell). Similar surnames exist in Ukrainian, e.g.,Perebiynis, literally "break the nose",Skorobogatko from the nickname "soon to be rich" and in Russian:Skorobogatov, from "soon to be rich".
German surnames are also quite common in the Czech Republic; the country was part of theAustrian Empire before 1918 and had a large German population untilWorld War II. Some of them got phonetically normalized and transcribed to Czech:Müller (miller) as well asMiler;Stein (Stone) as well asŠtajn,Schmied (Smith) as well asŠmíd (orŠmýd), Fritsch (Frič), Schlessinger (Šlesingr), etc. Some of them retain their original German surnames e. g. : Gottwald, Feiersinger, Dienstbier, Berger, Koller, Klaus, Franz, Forman, Ebermann, Lendl, Ulihrach, Gebauer, Kaberle, Vogelstanz, Geier, etc. Other ethnic minorities that have been living in Czechia for centuries have retained their original or transcribed names - Croatian (Košulič), Polish (Folwarczny → Folvarčný), French (Lebloch, Chalet → Šalé), Romanian (Colceag → Kolčák), etc.
Many of Czech surnames occur in adiminutive form which was used to distinguish father and son (similar to John → Johnnie), as apatronymic (John → Johnson), or a taller and shorter persons. Almost any surname can have its diminutive version. Examples includePetr →Peterka orPetřík →Petříček, Václav → Václavek or Václavík or Vašek → Vašinka, Sedlák → Sedláček, Polák → Poláček, Novák → Nováček, Zajíc → Zajíček, Němec → Němeček, Kalous → Kalousek, Havel → Havlík → Havlíček, Štěpán → Štěpánek → Štěpnička, Kovář → Kovařík → Kovaříček, Holub → Holoubek, Kocour → Kocourek, Cibula → Cibulka, Petržela → Petrželka, Chalupa → Chaloupka, Čáp → Čapek, Beran → Beránek, Šmíd → Šmídek, Šnajdr → Šnejdárek, Doležal → Doležálek.
The most common Czech surnames areNovák ("Newman"),Svoboda ("Freeman," literally "Freedom"),Novotný (same origin asNovák),Dvořák (fromdvůr, "freehold farm") andČerný ("Black").[5]
As in English-speaking countries, Czech women traditionally receive their father's surname at birth and take their husband's name when they marry. However, the names are not exactly the same; the endings differ to fit into the Czech language's systems ofgender adjectives. For example, the tennis playersCyril Suk andHelena Suková are brother and sister;Suková is the feminine form ofSuk. In fact, Czech female surnames are almost always feminineadjectives. There are several ways of forming them, depending on their male counterpart:
A few Czech surnames do not differ for men and women in thenominative case (the case used for thesubject of a sentence). Those include surnames whose male form isgenitiveplural, (e.g.Jirků,Janků) and those whose male form is an adjective with the suffix-í (e.g.Tachecí,Jarní). Note that these are only identical in two of the seven grammatical cases; in the other five, the male and female forms differ, as per thesoft adjective declension.
The woman's surname is also[clarification needed] not declined if it is of foreign origin and adding the suffix-ová would be awkward or unfeasible: Olga Walló, Blanka Matragi.
Czechs tend to add a feminine suffix to the surnames of Czech as well as foreign women surnames. Thus, e.g.Michelle Obama is referred to asMichelle Obamová in the Czech press.[6] Science fiction writerUrsula Le Guin appears in Czech translations asUrsula Le Guinová.[7] This phenomenon is not universal, however. In recent years, there has been lively discussion whether or not to change foreign female surnames in public use (such as in media references etc.). Supporters of abandoning this habit claim that adding a Czech female suffix to a foreign surname means deliberately changing a woman's name and is therefore both misleading and inconsiderate, whereas traditionalists point out that only by adding the suffix can the name be used as a flexible feminine adjective within a naturally sounding Czech sentence. Although the discussion continues, the majority of newspapers and other media use the "adopted" versions.[citation needed]
Until 2004, every woman who married in the Czech Republic and wanted to change her name had to adopt a feminine surname, unless her husband was a foreigner whose name ended in a vowel or she was a registered member of aCzech minority group. A law passed in 2004 allows all foreign women, and Czech women who marry foreign men, to adopt their husband's exact surname.[8]
An amendment proposed[9] to allow women to use male family name versions was approved by theSenate of the Czech Republic in July 2021.[10]
As in English-speaking countries, some Czech women decide to keep their maiden name after marriage or adopt a double surname. A couple can also agree to both adopt the woman's surname, with the husband using the masculine form.
Surnames that are nouns in the masculine singular:
All forms of the surnameNovák arepossessive adjectives in the plural; theirendings depend on the gender and case.
Surnames that are adjectives in the masculine singular:
All forms of the surnameNovotný are adjectives in the plural; their endings depend on the gender and case. The formNovotných is in thegenitive case.
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