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Czech Republic, 2014
State in Central Europe. It borders Poland, Germany, Austria and Slovakia. The capital is Prague. Population – 10,505,445 (2011 census). Official language– Czech. 90.4% of the population are Czechs. The majority of believers are Catholics: 10.3% of the country's population (2011 census). 34.2% called themselves atheists. 45.2% did not indicate their attitude towards religion.
Statistics on newborn names for the entire Czech Republic can be found on the website of the Czech Statistical Office – czso.cz. It publishes data on the frequency of names of children born in January. Counting just one month is, in my opinion, insufficient. Data is provided on the 10 and 50 most popular names in the country. Data available since 1999. The most current data is for 2012. Statistics on the names of fathers and mothers of newborns are also given so that intergenerational differences in names can be seen. In addition, cards with three or five (for different years in different ways) the most common names in each administrative unit of the Czech Republic. The CSU website provides links to the websites of regional statistical offices, where, if desired, you can also find name statistics.
More accurate statistics are available on the website of the Ministry of the Interior – mvcr.cz. Based on the population register, statistics on all first and last names are updated here annually. At the same time, separate tables show statistics of names and surnames by year of birth (since 1897, but more or less representative - since 1919), separate ones - by settlements. In the list of personal names on this moment 61587 lines.
The inconvenience is that male and female names are presented in one list (alphabetically). Considering that some children in the Czech Republic receive two names, in order to obtain a more accurate picture of the frequency of names, it is necessary to perform certain actions with the data from these tables. So, to the frequency of names, we probably need to add the amount of use of these names as the first and second names in constructions of two names. If visually, then to the frequency, for example, name Jakub it is desirable to increase the frequency of its use in combinations like Jakub Jiří, Jakub Petr, Jakub Vojtěch.
I will give statistics on the 20 most popular names of newborns for 2014. At the same time, the frequency of names in constructions of two names was not taken into account. I will also give a list of the ten most common Czech names.
Top 20 baby boy names
Place Name Frequency 1 Jakub (Yakub) 2902 2 Jan 2659 3 Tomáš (Tomas) 2033 4 Adam (Adam) 1861 5 Matyáš (Matiash) 1660 6 Filip (Philip) 1601 7 Vojtěch (Vojtech) 1591 8 Ondřej 1552 9 David 1526 10 Lukáš (Lukash) 1493 11 Matěj (Matej) 1483 12 Daniel 1249 13 Martin 1200 14 Šimon (Shimon) 1185 15 Dominik (Dominic) 1087 16 Petr (Peter) 1064 17 Štěpán (Stepan) 950 18 Marek 949 19 Jiří (Jiri) 924 20 Michal (Michal) 886 Top 20 baby girl names
Place Name Frequency 1 Eliška 2332 2 Teresa (Teresa) 1900 3 Anna (Anna) 1708 4 Adela (Adela) 1535 5 Natalie (Natalia) 1386 6 Sofie (Sofia) 1180 7 Kristina (Christina) 1164 8 Ema (Ema) 1147 9 Karolina (Carolina) 1140 10 Viktorie (Victoria) 1086 11 Barbora 1078 12 Nela (Nela) 1063 13 Veronika (Veronica) 1018 14 Lucie (Lucia) 981 15 Kateřina 973 16 Klára (Clara) 805 17 Marie (Maria) 740 18 Laura (Laura) 736 19 Aneta (Aneta) 721 20 Julie (Julia) 707
The oldest layer of Czech names are Slavic names, which fall into three types: 1) single-member, simple names; 2) complex; 3) abbreviations and derivatives. While complex names Worn primarily by people belonging to government circles and the nobility, single-membered ones belonged to representatives of the common class. Many ancient Slavic names at first glance they seem strange. The origin of many of them can be explained through the prism of the protective function - after all, the names reflect ideas ancient man O magical power words. Many single-member names arose from the need to protect a person (especially in infancy) from evil spirits. Hence the names with negation: Nemil, Nedrah, Nelub, Nemoj. The same role was played by the names of animals and plants: Bobr, Kozel, Sobol, Tur, Sokol, Vran, Kalina, etc.
A variety of common nouns were used to form complex names. Here is a small list of them with examples of names:
bor: Bořivoj, Dalibor, Ratibor
buď: Budivoj, Budislav/a
boh: Bohuslav/a, Bohdan, Bohuchval
čest: Čestmír/a, Ctibor/a, Ctislav/a
mil: Miloslav/a, Bohumil/a
mír: Miroslav/a, Jaromír/a, Vladimir/a
mysl: Přemysl, Křesomysl
rad: Radoslav/a, Radomir/a, Ctirad/a
slav: Slavomír/a, Stanislav/a, Vladislav/a
vít: Hostivít, Vitězslav
vlad: Vladislav/a, Vladimir/a
voj: Vojtěch, BořivojHere is a wider list of Old Czech male and female names.
Men'sBezděd, Bezprym, Bohuň, Bohuslav, Boleslav, Bořiš, Bořivoj, Božata, Břetislav, Budislav, Budivoj, Bujín, Ctibor, Ctirad, Čajka, Černín, Dlugoš, Drahoš, Holáč, Hostislav, Hostivít, Hovora, H roznata, Jaromír, Jaroslav, Jaroš, Jurata, Kazimír, Kocel, Kochan, Kojata, Koša, Křesina, Květek, Lestek, Lešek, Měšek, Mikuš, Milhošt, Miloň, Miroslav, Mnata, Mojmír, Mstiš, Mulina, Načerat, Nakon, Neklan, Nerad, Nezamysl, Ojíř, Oneš, Ostoj, Prkoš, Přemysl, Přibík, Příbram, Přibyslav, Přivitan, Radek, Radim, Rastislav, Ráž, Rostislav, Rozroj ,Sezema, Slavek, Slavibor, Slavitah, Slavník, Slopan, Soběbor, běslav, Spytihněv, Stanoslav, Stojan, Strojmír, Stromata, Střezimír, Svatobor, Svatopluk, Svojen, Svojslav, Svojšek, Vacek, Vacena, Václav, Vít, Vítek, Vitislav, Vladislav, Vladivoj, Vladoň, Vladota, Vlastislav, Vojen, Vojtěch, tislav, Vražek, Všebor, Zbyhněv, Zderad, Zlatoň, Zlatoslav, Znanek
Women'sBlažena, Bohuna, Bohuslava, Bořena, Božena, Božetěcha, Bratruše, Bratřice, Ctěna, Černice, Dobrava, Dobroslava, Doubravka, Drahoslava, Dúbrava, Hněvka, Hodava, Jelena, Kvašena, Květava, Lubava, Ludmila Mlad, a, Nětka, Pluhava, Radoslava, Svatava, Třebava, Václava, Vendula, Vlastěna, Vojtěcha, Vratislava, Zdislava, Zořena, Žizňava
In the 9th century, when the Christian religion began to spread in the Czech lands, international trade relations developed, and various wars took place, names of origin other than Slavic began to appear. So, on the territory of the Czech Republic, Jewish names began to be used more and more often, as Adam, Jan, Jakub, Tomas, Josef, Michal, Daniel, Anna, Eva, Greek like Filip, Stepan, Jiri, Barbora, Irena, Katerina, Lucie, latin like Marek, Martin, Lukasz, Pavel, Klara, Magdalena, German (these names were brought, first of all, by the German wives of the Przhemyslids, German monks and knights), as Jindřik, Oldřich, Vilem, Karel, Otakar, Gedvika, Amalie and others. Many of these names were written and pronounced differently in the original language, but the Czechs adapted them to their needs.
In the 14th century, during the Gothic era, Christian church names became widespread in the Czech Republic. Parents gave their children the names of saints so that they would protect them. Saints also became patrons of various professions, for example, Barbora - miners, Hubert - hunters. Vaclav becomes the patron of the Czech people. The penetration of Christian names into the Czech Republic ended during the Baroque era in the 18th century. Then, under the influence of the cult of the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph, these two names became quite popular among the Czechs, just like Frantisek and Antonin - the names of saints who were canonized precisely in the Baroque era.
Each name, naturally, has its abbreviations or diminutive forms. For example, very popular name Ian also used as Jenik, Jenicek, Jenda, Jenya, Janek, or Gonza, Gonzik, Gonzicek(following the German example from the home kit Hans).
In the 16th century, the choice of name depended on belonging to a certain social class. For example, counts and nobles had names like Wilem, Yaroslav, Friedrich, soldiers - Hector, Jiri, Alexander. Village girls from the 14th to the 18th centuries most often had names like Katerzyna, Anna, Barbora, Dorota, Marketa, common names for urban girls from high society were Philomena, Eleonora, Anastasie, Euphrosina and others.
During the communist era, parents had to obtain permission if they wanted to give a name that was not on the Czech calendar. Since 1989, parents have the right to give the name whatever they want, as long as it is used elsewhere in the world and is not offensive or derogatory. However, a common practice is to look up the name in the book "Jak se bude vaše dítě jmenovat?" (“What should I name my child?”), which is a semi-official list of “allowed” names. If the name is not found there, the registry office does not want to register this child's name.
Throughout history, names have been subject to a variety of influences - church, educational, socio-political, they were used in honor of prominent personalities - actors, athletes, politicians, or simply adapted fashion trends at this time.
The Czech Statistical Office has posted data on the most frequent names on its website since 1999. At the beginning of the year, these are the first ten names, then a list of the first fifty names is added (separately for male and female newborns). At the same time, only names are given that were registered in the month of January, which cannot but cause some surprise. After all, the Czech Republic is a country in which the positions of various types of calendars are strong (Catholic, in the communist period there was also a mandatory calendar of names). Therefore, the overall picture for the year is obviously somewhat different from the picture for one month. However, these statistics show the dynamics of changes in the choice of names from year to year well. In addition, the website of the statistical office provides statistics on the names of fathers and mothers of newborns. You can also find summary data for several years, and the names of the parents of newborns are added to the names of grandparents.
I will give official statistics of the most common 50 male and female names of newborns in the Czech Republic in 2009.
Male names
- Jakub
- Tomáš
- Lukáš
- Filip
- David
- Ondřej
- Matěj
- Vojtěch
- Martin
- Dominic
- Matyas
- Daniel
- Marek
- Michal
- Stěpán
- Václav
- Josef
- Šimon
- Patrick
- Pavel
- František
- Kryštof
- Antonin
- Tobiáš
- Samuel
- Miroslav
- Tadeáš
- Sebastian
- Richard
- Jaroslav
- Karel
- Alexander
- Matouš
- Oliver
- Radek
- Michael
- Milan
- Nicoias
- Christian
- Victor
- Denis
- Mikuláš
- Nikolas
- Roman
- Jachym
Female names
- Tereza
- Natalia
- Eliška
- Karolina
- Adela
- Kateřina
- Barbora
- Kristýria
- Lucie
- Veronica
- Nikola
- Clara
- Michaela
- Victoria
- Marie
- Aneta
- Julie
- Zuzana
- Marketa
- Vanesa
- Sofie
- Andrea
- Laura
- Amalia
- Alžběta
- Daniela
- Sabina
- Denisa
- Magdalena
- Nicol
- Linda
- Valérie
- Yendula
- Simona
- Anežka
- Rosalie
- Gabriela
- Petra
- Adriana
- Dominica
- Lenka
- Martina
As in other countries, in the Czech Republic there are some differences in the popularity of certain names between regions. As an example, here are the five most common names in all fourteen administrative regions of the country in 2007. Again, we are talking about data only for January.
Women'sLiberec region: Tereza, Natalie, Anna, Eliška, Karolina
Usti region: Tereza, Anna, Kateřina, Lucie, Karolina
Central Bohemian Region: Tereza, Adela, Anna, Eliška, Natalie
South Bohemian Region: Kateřina, Tereza, Anna, Natálie, Adela
Pilsen region: Tereza, Adela, Natalie, Kristýna, Anna
Vysocina: Tereza, Karolina, Natalie, Nikola, Barbora
Pardubice region: Tereza, Adela, Karolina, Kateřina, Nikola
Kralove Hradeck region: Karolina, Kateřina, Adela, Anna, Eliška
South Moravian region: Veronika, Karolina, Tereza, Natalie, Anna
Olomouc region: Tereza, Adela, Eliška, Anna, Karolina
Zlín region: Eliška, Tereza, Barbora, Veronika, Karolina
Moravian-Silesian region: Tereza, Karolina, Natalie, Kristina, Eliška
Karlovy Vary region: Natalie, Karolina, Tereza, Adela, Anna
Prague: Anna, Eliška, Tereza, Karolina, Marie
Men'sLiberec region: Filip, Tomáš, Adam, Jan, Lukáš
Usti region: Jan, Jakub, Lukáš, Adam, Matěj
Central Bohemian Region: Jan, Jakub, Adam, Tomáš, Martin
South Bohemian Region: Jakub, Jan, Matěj, Tomáš, Lukáš
Pilsen region: Jakub,Lukáš, David, Adam, Daniel
Vysocina: Jan, Jakub, Tomáš, Ondřej,Adam
Pardubice region: Jan, Matěj, Jakub, Ondřej, Filip
Kralove Hradeck region: Jan, Jakub, Adam, Ondřej, Vojtěch
South Moravian region: Jakub, Jan, Ondřej,Martin, Matěj
Olomouc region: Jakub, Jan, Tomáš, Adam, Vojtěch
Zlín region: Jakub, Tomáš, Adam, Jan, Ondřej
Moravian-Silesian region: Jan, Jakub, Adam, Ondřej, Filip
Karlovy Vary region: Jan, Jakub, Ondřej, Adam, František
Prague: Jan, Jakub, Vojtěch, Ondřej, AdamSources for writing this article:
Koporsky S.A. On the history of personal names in ancient Czech and other Slavic languages (review) // Bulletin of Moscow State University. Series X, Philology, No. 3, 1967. Pp. 67–71.
They say that Kylie Minogue once refused to come to the Czech Republic when she learned that her name would be written on posters as “ Minogova" Indeed, in the Czech language the feminine form is formed from male professions and surnames, this also applies to foreign surnames. This is how Mr. Gavl’s wife will be called “ Gavlova", Obama - " Obama's", and Marilyn Monroe is pronounced nothing more than " Marilyn Monroova».
This linguistic feature has long been a socio-political problem for many Czechs, which is discussed in the Human Rights Committee.
Linguist Yana Valdrova says: “Back in the 70s, we had instructions according to which a foreign woman was obliged to use her last name in the Czech form, and there was no point in protesting. After 1989, foreign women began to file protests with the Czech Helsinki Committee, stating that they were against adding the ending –ova to their surnames. However, such cases still occur today. For example, one lady who married a foreigner was refused to open an account in a Czech bank until she added the ending –ova to her last name on the form.”
Arguments from those who oppose the –ova ending:
1. It is known that conquerors renamed the conquered people to show their power over them. Ending –ova(Novakova, Kubatova, Dzhelassiova) expresses the belonging of a woman to a man, as if certain rights of a man in relation to a woman
2. People now travel abroad much more and a simplified version of the surname would be quite logical
3. It can be difficult to determine a true foreign surname. For example, adapted to the Czech language " Dzhelassiova» how should it be written in your original version? Jelassi? Jelassia? Gelassio? How to form a feminine form from a Japanese, Vietnamese or Chinese surname?
4. " The most important argument of opponents of the formation of female forms from male surnames is that these women are simply not called that way, and let’s respect that“- says Yana Valdrova.
Arguments of the “traditionalists”:
1. Such education female surnames– part of Czech culture and language.
2. Men's uniform A woman's surname seems unnatural and funny to most Czechs. You should not artificially change the language if it is not ready for these changes.
The Senate recently rejected a bill proposing to “docking” surnames. Against male version 26 senators out of 51 present at the meeting spoke about Czech women's names.
For women who are very worried about the obligatory “-ova”, the Institute of the Czech Language has taken a step forward: if some representatives of the fairer sex prefer to publicly introduce themselves by giving their last name without the “-ova”, the media should show due respect for this. But this does not apply to official documents.
Statistics of the most popular names for Last year and their origin
- Jakub – from Hebrew “born again”;
- Jan – from Hebrew “merciful God”, “merciful gift of God”, “given by God”;
- Tomas (Tomáš) – biblical name with Aramaic roots “twin, twin”;
- Lukash (Lukáš) – from Latin “Lukanian, resident of Lucania”;
- Matěj – from Hebrew “God’s gift”;
- Matthias (Matyáš) – from Hebrew “gift of God”;
- Adam (Adam) - a biblical name with Aramaic roots “from red clay”, “inhabitant of the earth”, “man”;
- Philip (Filip) - from Greek “horse lover”;
- Vojtěch – Slavic name“reinforcement for the army”, “consolation”;
- Ondřej - from Greek “brave, courageous, courageous.”
- Teresa – associated with the Greek island of Thera, associated with the words “protection”, “summer”, “warmth”, “security”;
- Eliška – Czech form of the Hebrew name Elizabeth “worshipper of God”;
- Anna (Anna) - from Hebrew “merciful, merciful, sweet, amiable”;
- Adela – from German “sublime creature”;
- Carolina (Karolína) – derived from Latin male name Carolus means "free man";
- Natalia (Natálie) – from Latin name Natalis "alive". The name Natalia is usually given to girls born on Christmas Eve, as it is used to designate it (Christi natalia);
- Kateřina – from Greek “pure”, “moral”;
- Christina (Kristýna) – from Greek “Christian”;
- Lucie – from Latin “light, radiant”;
- Barbora – from Greek “foreigner”, Western European version of Barbara.
Pronunciation and meaning of popular Czech names
The Czech Republic is a Slavic country with its capital in Prague. It is inhabited mainly by Catholics. Faith had a great influence on their names for many centuries. Just a few decades ago the country was filled with Josephs and Marys.
Today, traditional names are still popular among the population. Although there is a tendency to name children exotic names. More often they are given to girls. For example: Nela, Emma, Vanessa, Joanna, Sofia, Flora, Leontina, Zdislava, Berta, Sarah. There are also such rare names like Zyuzanna or completely comical for the Russian language like Mike. Among the names of boys, such as Samuel, Kristof, Matthias, Oliver, Tobias are increasingly common.
Over the past three years, the statistics of female and male names have remained virtually unchanged. Only a few names change in the rating table, but do not leave it.
Since the Czech Republic is a Slavic country, many names are identical to Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian. Such as Alena, Veronika, Kristýna, Klára, Anna, Dana, Dáša. There are also modifications of Slavic female names - Katka, Verča, Lenka, Tana, Helena, as well as male ones - Petra, Andrea, Michaela, Nikola.
However, due to the Latin alphabet, many of them are pronounced differently. So the Czech “h” should be pronounced as softly as the letter “g” in the Ukrainian language. In Russian, it is conveyed by the transcription of the usual “g”. For example, Hanuš - Hanush, Hostislav - Gostislav, Havel - Havel.
The Czech "y" should be pronounced somewhere between "i" and "s". Russian transcription more often renders it as “and”.
The Czech consonant “l” is pronounced a little softer than in Russian. There is no real soft “l” in the Czech language. They pronounce these names like this: Albert, Lubomír, Silvestr, Ráchel. Taking into account the traditions of pronunciation, in the Russian version these names can be rendered as Albert, Lyubomir, Sylvester, Rachel. But many are still transmitted according to the rules: Karel, Pavel, Havel.
The stress in Czech is also different from Russian. It is not related to the length of the sound, but to the strength of pronunciation, that is, dynamic. It usually falls on the first syllable, although this is difficult to determine without communication experience. Often the same word contains long vowels (á, é, ó, í, ú, ý), which in our language are associated with stress.
But knowing the names of Czechs is not enough to address them. Since they, like the Ukrainian language, have a seventh vocative case. So if a name ends in “-tr” (Peter) – its vocative form is Petrshe!; if “-a”, “-ya” (Sveta, Nastya) - “Sveto!”, “Nastya!”; if “-dr” (Alexander) – “Alexander!”; if with “-iy” (Gregory) – “Grigory!”
Many Czechs, when introducing themselves to a foreigner, pronounce their own name in the English manner, because they understand that they are too difficult to pronounce for people speaking other languages. So in one room there can be many Jans, Peters, Georges, etc. You should check with your interlocutor exactly how his name sounds in Czech. But then it is necessary to pronounce the heard name correctly.
When born, he immediately receives a surname. It would seem that there is only one word, sometimes two, but it plays big role in the continuity of family generations, family history. They can be simple or elaborate, funny or majestic, but one way or another they are a subtle hint (and often a rough indication) of the mystery of why the ancestor was called that way. All this is in Czech surnames. Now about this in more detail.
In the depths of centuries
To understand the peculiarities of the diversity of Czech surnames and names, it is necessary to plunge at least a little into the history of this amazing Slavic state.
In the ninth century, during the period of the spread of Christianity, trade relations developed in the Czech Republic and wars took place. Jewish, Greek, Latin and Germanic names began to appear along with Slavic ones. Since they were difficult to pronounce and write for the Czechs, they did not hesitate to modify them for their convenience.
Also, thanks to Jan Hus, the Czech alphabet was reformed for convenience. Previously, short-pronounced Czech words were lengthened fourfold through Latin transliteration. Writing the same business documents took much longer.
In the sixteenth century, names were chosen based on social status. The nobles called their children Vilem, Yaroslav, Friedrich, the soldiers - Hector or Alexander. From the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, simpletons received names such as Dorota, Barbora, Katarzyna.
First Czech surnames appeared around the fourteenth century. Initially, their owners were representatives of the ruling families, which is completely natural. It was beneficial for the Czech nobility to consolidate and pass on their noble origins to their descendants in this way. One of the oldest noble Czech families is Cherninov.
More often, the second name of ordinary Czechs without a noble pedigree came from a nickname. It was given according to occupation, distinctive body structure or its individual parts, character traits, and sometimes bad habits. There were even abusive versions.
In the case of “professional” Czech surnames, it happened that not all family members bore it. If the father was a carpenter, he could be called, for example, Jan Bednar, and his son, a carpenter, could be called Vaclav Tesar. So representatives of the same family received different surnames.
With development feudal system surnames for ordinary people in the Czech Republic have become mandatory. This was due to simple practicality. During the collection of taxes, there was no longer much confusion as before.
Czech children were often given common names. It is difficult not to make a mistake about which Ian paid the tax in full and which did not. And with last names, it has become much easier to assign payment to a specific person.
The list of Czech surnames could have expanded, becoming more vibrant and diverse, if not for the reforms carried out in the state at the end of the eighteenth century, which approved the existing list.
The most common surnames: Novotny or Novak, Dvorak, Horak, Svoboda.
Metaphors of nature
There is a large list of Czech generic names derived from words associated with natural phenomena. For example, Ivan Glinka, hockey player. There is no need to guess that his ancestor was named after clay.
Perhaps it was a clay miner, or maybe this is an indication of a weak character, pliable, like clay. The surname Mraz (frost) is very common. This is clear evidence of the severity of the character of the Czech who was given such a surname.
Geneticist from Gincice
Among Czech surnames there are many foreign ones, which is explained by geopolitical changes in the country. Since the times of Austria-Hungary, surnames have spread throughout the Czech Republic German origin.
Anyone who studied biology well at school is well aware of the name of the Czech geneticist - Mendel.
A native of the Moravian town of Gincice, he came from a Slavic-German family. Yes, this is the same scientist, the abbot of the Augustinian order, who observed green peas and deduced the laws of heredity.
He was ahead of his time with his research. Contemporaries did not hesitate to make fun of him scientific work, based only on changes in legume crops. But twenty years after his death, the scientific world was noisy, studying his achievements in the then new science of genetics. Mendel is also called the “Czech Darwin.”
Only “-ova”!
While in the Czech Republic, representatives of the fair sex should not be surprised if, when completing documents, they see their last name greatly changed.
Eat state feature formation of female Czech surnames. They are formed from any masculine, but with the obligatory addition of the suffix “-ova”. This indicates historical patriarchy national culture Chekhov. There are no exceptions even for foreigners.
It is a widely available fact that singer Kylie Minogue did not come to the Czech Republic with a concert after learning that she was “Minogue” on posters in Prague.
For fun's sake
Czechs have a great sense of humor, which is reflected in their family names. Even today, funny Czech surnames are often found, although the laws of the republic long ago allowed them to be replaced.
With great irony, the ancestors of the Czechs, making fun of the nobility, were called by both secular and clergy titles. Among them are Papage (from the Pope) and Biskup (bishop). There are also male Czech surnames of an abusive and accusatory nature: Halabala - a slacker, Smutny - sad, Gnevsa - menacing, angry.
Czech names
At the top of the list of Czech male names for many centuries are: Jan, Petr and Jakub. Therefore, even now you can find famous personalities with such a “nickname”. Many people know or have seen a goalkeeper with a bright male Czech first and last name - Petr Cech. This is where there will be no questions about where he comes from, what football team in the world he would not play for.
Pre-Christian roots can be traced in Czech names. We all remember the funny children's cartoon about a mole, authored by Zdenek Miller. The name Zdenek is believed to come from an old common own name Zdeslav (here + glory).
In addition to the old ones, the list of modern common Czech names was influenced by Catholic Church. Czechs often named their children in honor of saints: Joseph, Jakub (from Jacob), Pavel, Tomas, Marek and so on. Czech names can be divided into two-part ones, derived from participles (Ždan), names of the plant and animal worlds (Kvetoslav), by birth order (Pervak) and in accordance with character qualities (Brave).
Czech names
Czech - Slavic country, and, of course, among Czech female surnames and names there are quite familiar to the Russian ear. One of influential women in the Czech Republic, anti-corruption fighter, whistleblower of embezzlement schemes - Lenka Bradačová.
Along with traditional female names, Czechs are often called by exotic, foreign "nicknames". For example, the director of the Olma company, the Czech company Agrofert, is called Simona Sokolova. From the male Hebrew name Simon (Shimon).
Often girls are named after a beautiful flower, bird or animal.
Pronunciation of names
The Czech language contains diacritics, for this reason many names are pronounced slightly differently than the corresponding Russian ones. As a rule, the first syllable is stressed.
Many Czech names They have a short version, so it can be difficult for a Russian person to understand whose name they are talking about. Like Ukrainian, Czech has a vocative case. To address a Czech correctly, you need to say his name in the vocative case, which means choosing the correct ending. For example, a Czech named Wroclaw is addressed as “Wroclaw!”, and Jan is addressed as “Jano”, and so on.
