Vojtěch (Czech pronunciation: ⓘ) or Vojtech is a, respectively, Czech and Slovak given name of Slavic origin. It is composed of two parts: voj – "troops"/"war(rior)" and těch – "consolator"/"rejoicing man". So, the name could be interpreted either as "consolator of troops" or "man rejoicing in a battle, warlike man". The name day is 23 April.
The name Vojtěch is since the Early Middle Ages also perceived as the equivalent of Germanic name Adalbert ("noble bright"), due to the saint Adalbert of Prague (Czech: svatý Vojtěch; Polish: święty Wojciech), however, the two names have no linguistic relationship with each other. Via the same artificial process have been the names Vojtěch/Adalbert assigned to Hungarian name Béla (like "noble").
Use in Czech
The proper Czech spelling of the name is 'Vojtěch', pronounced [ˈvojcɛx]. The name contains two Czech orthography elements. The first is the caron, which is a form of a diacritical mark, over the letter 'e'. The caron modifies the pronunciation of the letter 't' immediately preceding the ě. The second is a digraph at the end of the name: the last two letters 'ch' in fact form a single phoneme (pronounced as a voiceless velar fricative [x]). (The pair 'ch' is the only formal digraph in the Czech alphabet.)
A common shorter version of the name is Vojta, pronounced [ˈvojta]. According to a 2009 survey of the Czech Ministry of Interior, there were over 41 thousand men with the first name Vojtěch in the Czech Republic, which made it the 28th most used name on Czech territory.[1]
Use in Slovak
The name is spelled without the caron above the letter e.
Foreign variants
- Polish: Wojciech, Wojtas, Wojtasek, Wojtak, Wojtek, Wojtczak, Wojcik, Wojcicki, Wojt, Wojteczek, Wojtuś.
- Serbian: Воjтех / Vojteh
- Croatian: Vojtjeh
- German: Woitke, Witke, Voitke, Voytke, Woytke, Vogtke, Wogtke, Woetke, Wötke, Wotke, Woyzeck, Wozzeck
- American: Watke
Given name
- Saint Adalbert of Prague (~956–997), Bishop of Prague, the first recorded user of this name
- Vojtěch Adam (born 1950), Czech politician
- Vojtech Alexander (1857–1916), Slovak radiologist
- Vojta Beneš (1878–1951), Czechoslovak educator, political leader and brother of Edvard Beneš
- Vojtěch Dobiáš (born 2000), Czech ice hockey player
- Vojtěch Filip (born 1955), Czech politician
- Alberto Vojtěch Frič (1882–1944), Czech botanist and ethnographer
- Vojtěch Jarník (1897–1970), Czech mathematician
- Vojtěch Jasný (1925–2019), Czech director
- Vojtěch Kubašta (1914-1992), Czech artist and illustrator
- Vojtěch Machek (born 1990), Czech footballer
- Vojtech Milošovič (born 1992), Czech footballer
- Vojtěch Náprstek (1826–1894), Czech journalist
- Vojtech Plat (born 1994), Czech chess grandmaster
- Vojtěch Preissig (1873–1944), Czech type designer
- Vojtěch Šafařík (1829–1902), Czech chemist
- Vojtech Tuka (1880–1946), Slovak prime minister
- Vojtech Zamarovský (1919–2006), Slovak writer
- Vojtěch Matyáš Jírovec (Adalbert Gyrowetz) (1763–1850) Bohemian composer.
Surname
- Adam Vojtěch, Czech singer and minister of health
- Adolf Vojta-Jurný, Czech actor
- Alexandr Vojta, Czech director of documents
- Billy Vojtek (born 1943), Australian soccer player
- Elmer Voight (born Elemír Vojtko), American golfer of Slovak origin and father of actor Jon Voight
- Hermína Vojtová, Czech actress
- Ivan Vojtek, Slovak actor
- Jaroslav Vojta (1888–1970), Czech actor
- Jaroslav Vojtek, Slovak director
- Jiří Vojta, Czech actor
- Josef Vojtek, Czech musician
- Josef Vojtech (1925–?), Austrian weightlifter
- Linda Vojtová (born 1985), Czech model
- Martin Vojtek (born 1975), Czech ice hockey player
- Roman Vojtek, Czech actor
- Václav Vojta (1917–2000), Czech physician (inventor of the Vojta method)
See also
- Wojciech, a Polish variant
- Béla
- Slavic names
References
- ↑ Statistical records of the Ministry of Interior (in Czech)