Name of The Czech Republic - Czech Name

Czech Name

The Czech name of the country comes from the Czechs (Czech: Čechové), a Slavic tribe residing in central Bohemia which subdued the surrounding tribes in the late 9th century and created the Czech/Bohemian state. The origin of the name of the tribe itself is unknown. According to a legend, it comes from their leader Čech, who brought them to Bohemia. Research regards Čech as a sort of derivative from the root čel- (member of the people, kinsman).

There have been several variants of the name of the country used over the centuries depending mainly on the evolution of the Czech language. The digraph "cz" was used until the 15th century reform, being eventually replaced by "č" which changed the original Czechy into Čechy. In the late 19th century the names of countries started to lose the suffix -y in favor of -sko (e.g. Rakousy-Rakousko for Austria, Uhry-Uhersko for Hungary). While the first notion of Česko appears for the first time in the late 18th century, it came into official use only with the independence of Czechoslovakia (Česko-Slovensko or Československo) as the first part of its name in 1918. When Czechoslovakia broke up in 1993, the Czech part of the name was intended to serve as a name of the Czech state. The decision, however, started a dispute since many perceived the "new" word Česko, which had been only rarely used before alone, as harsh sounding or as a mere remnant of Československo, while the older and more familiar Čechy was rejected by many because it was primarily associated only with Bohemia proper and to use it also for the whole country was no longer seen as appropriate, especially among the inhabitants of Moravia, despite its being common in other languages (Polish, Slovene, etc.).

The use of the word "Česko" by the Czech media and public has increased in recent years, and it is also in official use now. But during the 1990s has been used rather rarely and viewed as controversial: some Czech politicians and public figures (e.g. medial magnate Vladimír Železný) expressed concern about the disuse of Česko and Czechia; on the other side another known persons (e.g. president Václav Havel or minister Alexandr Vondra) strongly opposed using of these forms of the name. Because of these controversies, in 1997 a civic initiative "Česko-Czechia" (formed by linguists and geographers) was established in Brno to promote short, geographical form of the name. The following year, a conference of professionals aimed at encouraging the use of the names was held at Charles University in Prague; moreover, the Czech Senate held a session on the issue in 2004.