Czech names are composed of given names and surnames. Surnames used by women differ from the corresponding male surnames. Look up Appendix:Most popular given names by country in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A family name, or surname, is that part of a persons name that indicates to what family he or she belongs. ...

Given names

In Czech 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, the common practice is that the most birth-record offices look for the name in the book "Jak se bude vaše dítě jmenovat?" (How is your child going to be called?), ISBN 80-200-1349-0, the semi-official list of "allowed" names. If the name is not found there, offices are extremely unwilling to register the child's name.^[1] // In February 1948, when the Communists definitively took power in Czechoslovakia, the country was declared a peoples republic — a preliminary step toward socialism and, ultimately, communism. ... In the Czech Republic, each day of the year corresponds to a personal name. ...

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).^[2]

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 Jana ("A dog bites Jan") and Pes dal Janovi 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, Tomáši, pozor pes! (Tomáš, watch out for the dog!). In grammar, the case of a noun or pronoun indicates its grammatical function in a greater phrase or clause; such as the role of subject, of direct object, or of possessor. ... The Slovak language (slovenčina, slovenský jazyk), sometimes referred to as Slovakian, is an Indo-European language belonging to the West Slavic languages (together with Czech, Polish, Cashubian and Sorbian). ... The vocative case is the case used for a noun identifying the person (animal, object, etc. ...

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. What is not shared with English but is similar to North American native languages is the extremely colorful nature of Czech surnames. Konichek (Little Horse), Pospishil (He Who Hurries), Knourek (Purring Man), Kratochvil (Rapid Man), and even Vrazda (Mr. Murder), are normal names in Czech. The origin of such colorful names has yet to be fully documented.

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. Anthem Volkshymne (Peoples Anthem) The Austrian Empire Capital Vienna Language(s) German Hungarian Romanian Czech Slovakian Slovenian Croatian Serbian Italian Polish Ruthenian Religion Roman Catholic Government Monarchy History  - Established 1804  - Ausgleich 1867 The Crown of the Austrian Emperor The Austrian Empire (German: ) was a modern era successor empire founded... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...

The most-common Czech surnames are Novák ("Newman"), Svoboda ("Freeman," literally "Freedom"), Novotný (same origin as Novák), Dvořák (from dvůr, "court") and Černý ("Black").^[3] Novák or Novak is a Czech surname, derived from nový (=new), and may refer to: Arne Novák B. J. Novak Brandon Novak, American celebrity and skateboarder Casey Novak, fictional character David Novak Đoni Novak Elliot Novak Éva Novák-Gerard Ferenc Novák Filip Novak Gabi Novak Harry... Svoboda, the Bulgarian, Czech, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian and Ukrainian spelling of the Slavic word for freedom, may refer to: Ludvik Svoboda, President of Czechoslovakia J. Steven Svoboda, genital integrity activist Jaroslav Svoboda, Czech ice hockey player OldÅ™ich Svoboda, Czech ice hockey player Radio Svoboda See also Swoboda for the... Novotný or Novotny is a surname, and may refer to: Antonín Novotný, Czechoslovakian president Jiří Novotný (footballer) Jiri Novotny (ice hockey player) Michael Novotny, fictional character Monica Novotny, American journalist Monty Novotny, American luthier Nancy Novotny, American voice actress Pavel Novotný (footballer) Tuva Novotny, Swedish actress/singer Novotny (chess... Dvořák is a common Czech surname (the feminine form is Dvořáková) derived from dvůr (=court, estate). ... ÄŒerný or Cerny is a surname, and may refer to: David ÄŒerný Harald Cerny Jan ÄŒerný JoBe Cerny Mark Cerny Radek ÄŒerný Vlastimil Cerny Czerny Categories: | ...

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 were a man, her surname would be Navrátil. In linguistics, grammatical gender is a morphological category associated with the expression of gender through inflection or agreement. ... Martina Navrátilová (b. ...

Czech female surnames are almost always feminine adjectives. There are several ways of forming them, depending on their male counterpart. In grammar, an adjective is a word whose main syntactic role is to modify a noun or pronoun (called the adjectives subject), giving more information about what the noun or pronoun refers to. ...

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 . In grammar, an adjective is a word whose main syntactic role is to modify a noun or pronoun (called the adjectives subject), giving more information about what the noun or pronoun refers to. ...

If a male surname is a noun, the female surname takes the suffix -ová, making it a feminine adjective: In linguistics, a noun or noun substantive is a lexical category which is defined in terms of how its members combine with other grammatical kinds of expressions. ... Look up Suffix in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

• Novák becomes Nováková
• Horáček becomes Horáčková
• Svoboda becomes Svobodová

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. The nominative case is a grammatical case for a noun. ... According to a tradition that can be tracked back to Aristotle, every sentence can be divided in two main constituents, one being the subject of the sentence and the other being its predicate. ... The genitive case is a grammatical case that indicates a relationship, primarily one of possession, between the noun in the genitive case and another noun. ... Look up plural in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Czech declension describes the declension, or system of grammatically-determined modifications, in nouns, adjectives, pronouns and numerals in the Czech language. ...

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. This article is about the use of the term first lady internationally. ... Laura Lane Welch Bush (born November 4, 1946) is the wife of the forty-third and current President of the United States George W. Bush and is thereby the First Lady of the United States. ...

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.^[4]

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 surmame Novák are possessive adjectives in the plural; their endings depend on the gender and case. Headline text hjvhwhatsgm,Possessive adjectives modify nouns. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Suffix. ...

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 surmame Novotný are adjectives in the plural; their endings depend on the gender and case. The form Novotných is in the genitive case. The genitive case is a grammatical case that indicates a relationship, primarily one of possession, between the noun in the genitive case and another noun. ...

References

1. ^ "Stát rozhoduje, jak se bude jmenovat vaše dítě"
2. ^ Daniela Lazarova, "Comeback of traditional Czech names," Czech Broadcasting 17 Aug. 2004. Retrieved 24 June 2007.
3. ^ Czech Ministry of the Interior, "Četnost jmen a příjmení," 6 June 2007. Retrieved 24 June 2007.
4. ^ 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