The Advent of Czech Surnames

Did you enjoy reading about the English side of the family last time?  Excellent!  By looking at the dates for both my English and Irish lines, it should be easy to surmise that more research is needed to be accomplished in the coming years!  If you have anything to add to the stories or a burning question to pose, please click on the little pencil symbol below this post and type it.  I will respond accordingly and thank you in advance.

Claim to Czech Ancestry

Now let’s turn attention to the other grandparents! Louise Adele Kubin and Joseph Frank Polasek were both full blooded “Moravian” as both sets of their parents emigrated from the towns of Lipa and Jedli, Moravia located in the country now known as the Czech Republic.  In addition, if you go a little further back on Grandfather Polasek’s family tree, you’ll find family ties to Bohemia, Czech Republic as well.   Exciting right?  It is!  

Grandparents Joseph Frank 
and Louise Adele Kubin Polasek, c.1926.

The Advent of Czech Surnames

Actually Czech surnames have had a much shorter history than their English and Irish counterparts and are certainly more confusing!   The first “Czech” surnames date back to the late Middle Ages at which time someone might go by several “names” over his lifetime.  More often than not, these monikers were very “individual specific” describing the actual person but not necessarily the rest of the family. For this reason, names were not constant and did not pass from generation to generation even in the same family. As you can quickly realize, the Czech identification processes were totally different that those used in England or Ireland where surnames had been passed down from father to son as far back as the 900’s A.D.   

You can clearly see why the Czechs had such a difficult time when attempting to establish lines of heirship and kinship.  In addition, there existed several other naming practices very common in some areas to add greater fuel to the confusion. For example one involved the use of “household surnames” when the new owner of a house assumed the surname of the previous owner.  Another common practice, known as using “under the roof surnames,” occurred when a man married a widow or a farmer's daughter and then moved into her house to live with her.  Also one other fact to bear in mind, over the centuries Bohemia and Moravia had two official languages, Czech and German, which is clearly reflected in many of the records. [i]

Feminine and Masculine Spellings of the Names

The spelling of the family surnames change when used for a male or used for a female.  The basic rules to make the masculine surname feminine are:

1.  If it ends with a constanant , the suffix -ová is added. Example: "Kubin" becomes "Kubinová."
2.  If it ends in –ý, then the suffix -á is added after dropping the "–ý." Example:   "Černý" become "Černá."
3. If it ends in "-ek," the "e" is dropped and the suffix -ová is added.  Example:  "Polasek" becomes "Polasková.
4. It it ends in a vowel, the suffix -ová is added. Example: "Mikeska" becomes "Mikesková."[ii]

The Edict of Tolerance of 1787

Surname usage did not become official the end of 18th century when as Hapsburg Emperor Josef II passed his “Edict of Tolerance” in 1787.  At the time Jewish residents did not use “last names” and so they were simple known as someone’s son, such as “Michael son of  John” or known by the place where they were living, such as “John from Praha.”  This edict declared that all residents had to choose one name to become the “surname” by which themselves and all future generations would be called.[iii]

The Nine Main Roots for Czech Surnames

Per Blanka Lednicka on her blog called "Czech Genealogy for Beginners," there are nine main roots for the origins of Czech surnames:

1.  Names that portrayed a newcomer to a village. When someone moved into an established community, they would sometimes be given the name “Novak”, “Newmann” or “Novacek” to designate this status. “Nový” means “new” so the surnames literally stand for “new man.” 
2. Names derived from social status.  There were distinct social class descriptions which included the serfs who were subservient and the free and independent yeoman who had land and perhaps a dwelling.   Some examples include:  “Svoboda,” designating “a free man; “Lanik,” for a farmer with had a large piece of land;” and “Chalupa or Chalupnik,” designating a man who” owned very little land but did have a small house.”  
3. Names that describe personal features including temperament and physical attributes of an individual.  Examples include: “Vesely” for a “cheerful man,” “Kysely” for a “bitter man,” “Kucera” for a “curly haired person,” and “Ruzicka” for a “nice man.”    
4. First names used as a second which were Biblical or Slavic in origin. Many used a form of a popular Roman Catholic saint’s name.  Examples include:  “Benes” *** from “Benedict,” “Marek” *** and “Mares” *** from “Marcus;” and “Jansa,” *** “Janousek,” “Janda” from “John.” 
5. Names derived from the localities, regions, or other countries where the individual originally lived.  Examples include:  “Prazsky” for someone from Praha and “Slovak” for someone from Slovakia.   
6. Names that represents the trade or occupation of the individual. This group also incorporates names which designate the following:  social status, i.e. “Svobodnik” for “a freeman;” actual occupation, i.e. “Kolar” for “a blacksmith;” their military rank, i.e. “Vojak” for “a soldier;” or for an artisan according to their tools, and i.e. “Kneklik” for a “dumpling maker.”  
7. Names that are of nature including plants and animals that an individual might resemble.  Examples include:  “Vrana” for person who resembles “a crow” or “Jedlicka” someone who looks like “a fir.”  
8. Name describing the activity or status of a person. Examples include: “Vrzala” meaning “scraped,” “Hrabal” for “raked,” and “Navratil” for “retrieved.”  This group includes some very unique but interesting surnames such as “Stojespal” which means “he slept standing,” “Zlamaljelito"  which means “he broke the black pudding” and “Snedlditetikasi" which means “he ate the squash to the child.” (Oh my!!!!!)
9. Names that come from other countries like Germany, Italy or France.  Examples include “Meullar” or “Miller” from Germany or “Chittusi” from Italy.[iv]

What Surname Would You Have Picked?

As you see, Czech surnames are really very descriptive of the family lines they represent.  Curiosity fills me greatly about that first person who was given the surname “Snedlditetikasi”!  Can’t you just imagine who it was?  Doesn’t it make you want to find out?

The next blog will take a look at the Kubin side of the family first.  Until then… have fun thinking up what surname you might have chosen if you had been alive back in 1787!!!

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[i]  Lednicka, Blanka, “Czech Surnames: Origins” blog entry post  on “Czech Genealogy for Beginers” located at czechgenealogy.blogspot.com, 22 September 2012.

[ii] Lednicka, Blanka, “Female Surnames” blog entry post  on “Czech Genealogy for Beginers” located at czechgenealogy.blogspot.com, 7 September 2012.    

[iii] Fabricant, Rabbi Noah, “Where did Jewish Names Come From?” blog entry post on WCH Blog: An Online Project of Washington Hebrew Congregation in Washington, D.C., located at http://whctemple.blogspot.com/2012/03/where-did-jewish-names-come-from.html, 7 March 2012. 

[iv] Lednicka, Blanka, “Czech Surnames: Origins” “Blog entry post  on “Czech Genealogy for Beginers” located at czechgenealogy.blogspot.com, 22 September 2012.