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, 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 (Go jump into a field), Osolsobě (Salt your own meal), Ventluka (Knocking outward).
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").
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