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While Czechs share relatively few given names, there are tens of thousands of Czech surnames.
Czech surnames (singular and plural: příjmení) are similar in origin to English ones. Typically, they reflect a personal characteristic of someone's ancestor (such as Malý, "Small"); where he was from or where he lived (e.g. Polák, Pole); what he did for a living (Kovář, "Blacksmith"); or the first name of a relative (Petr, "Peter"). Many Czech surnames, such as Sokol ("Falcon") or Zajic ("Hare"), are the names of animals. What is not shared with English but is similar to North American native languages is the extremely colorful nature of some Czech surnames, such as Skovajsa (Hide Yourself), Skočdopole (Jump Into Field), Osolsobě (Salt Your Meal), Ventluka (Banging Outward) and even Jebavý (Having Sex) or Vražda (Murder).
German surnames are also common in the Czech Republic; the country was part of the Austrian Empire before 1918 and had a large German population until World War II.
The most-common Czech surnames are Novák ("Newman"), Svoboda ("Freeman," literally "Freedom"), Novotný (same origin as Novák), Dvořák (from dvůr, "court") and Černý ("Black").
Female surnames
As in English-speaking countries, Czech females 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 system of gender. For example, if Martina Navrátilová was a man, her surname would be Navrátil.
Czech female surnames are almost always feminine adjectives. There are several ways of forming them, depending on their male counterpart.
If a male surname is a masculine adjective (ending in -ý), the female surname is simply the feminine equivalent. Thus, a girl whose father's surname is Novotný would have the surname Novotná .
If a male surname is a noun, the female surname takes the suffix -ová, making it a feminine adjective:
* Novák becomes Nováková
* Horáček becomes Horáčková
* Nováček becomes Nováčková
* Svoboda becomes Svobodová
* Sýkora becomes Sýkorová
* Jeništa becomes Jeništová
* Kaplický becomes Kaplická
* Pokorný becomes Pokorná
* Lebowski become Lebowska
A few Czech surnames do not differ for men and women in the nominative case (the case used for the subject of a sentence. Those include surnames whose male form is genitive plural, (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 the soft adjective declension.
Because gender-marked suffixes are essential to Czech grammar, Czechs will usually add a feminine suffix to the surnames of foreign as well as Czech women. Thus, American first lady Laura Bush is referred to as Laura Bushová in the Czech press. This phenomenon is not universal, however.
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 a Czech minority group, such as the Germans. A law passed in 2004 allows all foreign women, and Czech women who marry foreign men, to adopt their husband's exact surname.
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 in the plural
Surnames that are nouns in the masculine singular:
* Novákovi - the Nováks
* rodina Novákova - the Novák family
* bratři Novákovi - the brothers Novák
* sestry Novákovy - the sisters Novák
All forms of the surname Novák are possessive adjectives in the plural; their endings depend on the gender and case.
Surnames that are adjectives in the masculine singular:
* Novotní - the Novotnýs
* rodina Novotných - the Novotný family
* bratři Novotní - the brothers Novotný
* sestry Novotné - the sisters Novotný
All forms of the surname Novotný are adjectives in the plural; their endings depend on the gender and case. The form Novotných is in the genitive case.
Czech surnames (singular and plural: příjmení) are similar in origin to English ones. Typically, they reflect a personal characteristic of someone's ancestor (such as Malý, "Small"); where he was from or where he lived (e.g. Polák, Pole); what he did for a living (Kovář, "Blacksmith"); or the first name of a relative (Petr, "Peter"). Many Czech surnames, such as Sokol ("Falcon") or Zajic ("Hare"), are the names of animals. What is not shared with English but is similar to North American native languages is the extremely colorful nature of some Czech surnames, such as Skovajsa (Hide Yourself), Skočdopole (Jump Into Field), Osolsobě (Salt Your Meal), Ventluka (Banging Outward) and even Jebavý (Having Sex) or Vražda (Murder).
German surnames are also common in the Czech Republic; the country was part of the Austrian Empire before 1918 and had a large German population until World War II.
The most-common Czech surnames are Novák ("Newman"), Svoboda ("Freeman," literally "Freedom"), Novotný (same origin as Novák), Dvořák (from dvůr, "court") and Černý ("Black").
Female surnames
As in English-speaking countries, Czech females 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 system of gender. For example, if Martina Navrátilová was a man, her surname would be Navrátil.
Czech female surnames are almost always feminine adjectives. There are several ways of forming them, depending on their male counterpart.
If a male surname is a masculine adjective (ending in -ý), the female surname is simply the feminine equivalent. Thus, a girl whose father's surname is Novotný would have the surname Novotná .
If a male surname is a noun, the female surname takes the suffix -ová, making it a feminine adjective:
* Novák becomes Nováková
* Horáček becomes Horáčková
* Nováček becomes Nováčková
* Svoboda becomes Svobodová
* Sýkora becomes Sýkorová
* Jeništa becomes Jeništová
* Kaplický becomes Kaplická
* Pokorný becomes Pokorná
* Lebowski become Lebowska
A few Czech surnames do not differ for men and women in the nominative case (the case used for the subject of a sentence. Those include surnames whose male form is genitive plural, (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 the soft adjective declension.
Because gender-marked suffixes are essential to Czech grammar, Czechs will usually add a feminine suffix to the surnames of foreign as well as Czech women. Thus, American first lady Laura Bush is referred to as Laura Bushová in the Czech press. This phenomenon is not universal, however.
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 a Czech minority group, such as the Germans. A law passed in 2004 allows all foreign women, and Czech women who marry foreign men, to adopt their husband's exact surname.
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 in the plural
Surnames that are nouns in the masculine singular:
* Novákovi - the Nováks
* rodina Novákova - the Novák family
* bratři Novákovi - the brothers Novák
* sestry Novákovy - the sisters Novák
All forms of the surname Novák are possessive adjectives in the plural; their endings depend on the gender and case.
Surnames that are adjectives in the masculine singular:
* Novotní - the Novotnýs
* rodina Novotných - the Novotný family
* bratři Novotní - the brothers Novotný
* sestry Novotné - the sisters Novotný
All forms of the surname Novotný are adjectives in the plural; their endings depend on the gender and case. The form Novotných is in the genitive case.
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Replies
It used to be, in simpler times, that one could find a list of the commonest Czechoslovak names. Now when I see a list of the commonest Czech names it looks exactly like the pre-Czech Republic list. Meantime, no-one seems to have come up with a list of the commonest Slovak names. I have seen a list on wikipedia, but it struck me that all the names listed were in fact Hungarian. I know that Hungarian names are pretty common in Slovakia, but surely they're not the commonest?
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It´s half-and-half...
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