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'Czech names' are composed of 'given names' and 'surnames'. Surnames used by women differ from the corresponding male surnames.

Contents

Given names

Surnames

Female surnames

Surnames in the plural

References

See also

Given names

In Czech, given names are known simply as ''jména'' ("names") or, when the context requires it, ''křestní jména'' ("Christian names"). The singluar form is ''jméno''.
During the Communist era, parents needed special permission form to give a child a name that does not have a name day on the Czech calendar. Since 1989, parents have had the right to name their children as they wish, provided it is used somewhere in the world and is not insulting or demeaning.
However, Czech parents remain somewhat conservative in their choices of baby names. In January 2004, the most popular boy's names were ''Jan'' (John), ''Jakub'' (Jacob or James) and ''Tomáš'' (Thomas). The most popular girl's names were ''Tereza'' (Theresa), ''Kateřina'' (Katherine) and ''Eliška'' (Liz).^[1]
Names, like all nouns in the language, have grammatical cases; that is, they change depending on their role in the sentence. For example, one would say ''Jan kouše sendvič'' ("Jan bites a sandwich"), but ''Pes kouše Jan'a''' ("A dog bites Jan") and ''Pes dal Jan'ovi' vzteklinu'' ("The dog gave Jan rabies"). Unlike the very closely related Slovak language, Czech has a vocative case, a form of a word used only when calling or addressing someone. For instance, one would say, ''Tomáš'i', pozor pes!'' (Tomáš, watch out for the dog!).

Surnames

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'', Polish person); what he did for a living (''Kovář'', "Blacksmith"); or the first name of a relative (''Petr'', "Peter"). Many Czech surnames, such as ''Sokol'' ("Falcon"), are the names of birds.
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").^[2]

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. 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 ''Novotn'ý' '' would have the surname ''Novotn'á' ''.
If a male surname is a noun, the female surname takes the suffix ''-ová'', making it a feminine adjective:

★ ''Novák'' becomes ''Novák'ová'''

★ ''Horáč'e'k'' becomes ''Horáčk'ová'''

★ ''Svobod'a''' becomes ''Svobod'ová'''
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.^[3]
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:

★ ''Novák'ovi' - the Nováks''

★ ''rodina Novák'ova' - the Novák family''

★ ''bratři Novák'ovi' - the brothers Novák''

★ ''sestry Novák'ovy' - the sisters Novák''
All forms of the surmame ''Novák'' are possessive adjectives in the plural; their endings depend on the gender and case.
Surnames that are adjectives in the masculine singular:

★ ''Novotn'í' - the Novotnýs''

★ ''rodina Novotn'ých' - the Novotný family''

★ ''bratři Novotn'í' - the brothers Novotný''

★ ''sestry Novotn'é' - the sisters Novotný''
All forms of the surmame ''Novotný'' are adjectives in the plural; their endings depend on the gender and case. The form ''Novotných'' is in the genitive case.

References

1. Daniela Lazarova, "Comeback of traditional Czech names," Czech Broadcasting 17 Aug. 2004. Retrieved 24 June 2007.
2. Czech Ministry of the Interior, "Četnost jmen a příjmení," 6 June 2007. Retrieved 24 June 2007.
3. Lenka Ponikelska, "Law would mean surname options," ''The Prague Post'' 4 March 2004. Retrieved 24 June 2007.

See also

★ Czech language

★ Czech declension

★ Czech orthography