Last Names with -ová
Last week I read an article in the Slovak Spectator about the fact that women in Slovakia will soon find it easier to have a last name that doesn’t end in ová.
Currently in Slovakia, it is the law that female Slovak citizens must have a name that ends in ová or á. The tradition of females using these suffixes is long, not only in Slovakia but in many Slavic nations such as Poland, Ukraine, and Russia.
How do you know if a name should have an ová or an á ending in Slovak names? Why is it Jana Kováčová and Anna Čierná? The most basic explanation is if a name is a noun like Kováč (“kováč” means “smith” in English) then the ending ová is applied. If a name is an adjective like Čierný (“čierný” means “black” in English) then the ending ý is dropped and á is applied.
In Slovakia, it’s one thing for a woman to have a Slovak name and keep the naming conventions in her last name, but in the case where a Slovak woman, say her name is Jana, marries a foreigner whose name is John Smith, and they live in Slovakia, would she really want to be Jana Smithová? Probably not. This is when a Slovak woman might appreciate having the choice to opt out of ová.
3 Comments on “Last Names with -ová”
its the *law*?? OMG. First I read about the whipping with branches, and dunking with cold well water, now this. Sucks to be a chick in Slovakia...
August 21st, 2007 at 07:24 PM
The whipping with branches is just symbolic, Slovaks don't beat girls :) And with the names - well it's a normal thing in here when you born as -ova you really don't care about it :)
February 18th, 2008 at 10:10 AM
This isn't exactly the law. The article on the slovakspectator is wrong. The two main conditions under the law, in which you can have a name without ová or ská or if the woman is non-Slovak "nationality" (primarily meaning first language is not Slovak), or if either the woman or the man have non-Slovak "citizenship" (meaning a subject of another country). The example with Smithova doesn't apply now - my own wife doesn't have to have ova because I am English. By the way, the law doesn't actually mention allowing non-ský adjective names to change the "y" to "a" so the registry offices are acting illegally when they let women have Cierna instead of Ciernyova. It would be interesting to see them try to refuse that one though!
June 3rd, 2008 at 08:52 PM