The ending of a Czech or Slovak surname tells you something about its type, and it also changes depending on whether the bearer is a man or a woman and whether the name is used for one person or a family. This guide explains the common endings, how names are inflected, why the same family appears under several forms and how to search them. We checked these details in October 2026, and laws, statistics and tools change, so confirm them before you rely on them.
Two kinds of surname
According to Wikipedia, the masculine variant of a Czech surname typically takes the form of a noun, while the feminine variant takes the form of a substantive adjective by adding -ová to the stem of the male surname. Surnames that are hard adjectives, ending in -ý, -á or -é, usually have a symmetrical masculine and feminine form. For example, Nový becomes Nová, Dobrovský becomes Dobrovská, Novotný becomes Novotná and Černý becomes Černá. Surnames that are grammatically feminine words, such as Vrána, “crow,” or Smetana, “cream,” take -ová in the feminine.
| Masculine | Feminine | Pattern |
|---|---|---|
| Novák | Nováková | Noun surname plus -ová |
| Svoboda | Svobodová | Grammatically feminine noun, plus -ová |
| Novotný | Novotná | Hard adjective, symmetrical |
| Černý | Černá | Hard adjective, symmetrical |
| Dobrovský | Dobrovská | Adjective in -ský, symmetrical |
Common endings
- -ský, -ská. An adjective ending, as in Dobrovský. Adjective surnames have matching masculine and feminine forms.
- -ček. A diminutive, found on many of the most common Czech surnames, according to Wikipedia.
- -ák, -ek, -ik. Suffixes that are common in Czech and Slovak surnames, with feminine forms -ák-ová, -ek-ová and -ik-ová, according to Wikipedia’s list of Slavic name suffixes.
- -ec. Found in Czech and Slovak surnames, as with Moravec, “a Moravian.”
- -ko, -ka. A diminutive suffix found in Ukraine and to a lesser extent in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, according to the same list. In Czech dialects the suffix -ka also forms feminine designations.
- -ič, -ović. Patronymic endings found mainly in South Slavic languages and occasionally in Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
- -ová, -á. The feminine ending. Wikipedia notes that -ová is not a possessive suffix but makes a feminine adjective out of a surname.
We did not find an authoritative source giving a single meaning for every ending, and some endings have more than one origin, so treat the meaning of an ending as a clue to the name’s type, not a rule.
Surnames change by number and case
Wikipedia gives examples that show why one family appears under several forms. The surname Novák is used in the family as rodina Novákova (the Novák family), bratři Novákovi (the brothers Novák) and sestry Novákovy (the sisters Novák). For an adjective name, rodina Novotných is the Novotný family, bratři Novotní the brothers and sestry Novotné the sisters. These forms appear in Czech text, and Genealogy Indexer notes that a search for Novak will return Novakova, Novakovi and Novakovy, but a search for Novakova will not return Novak.
Evidence of -ová in the records
Evidence of using -ová to form feminine designations from a man’s name can be found in obituaries, urbars and town books from the fourteenth century, according to Wikipedia. In church registers, the mother’s surname in a baptism entry may therefore carry the feminine form even in older books. See our guide to women’s surnames.
Slovak forms
In Slovakia women’s surnames add -ová or -á, and the suffix is added in the same way as in Czech. Slovak lists show pairs such as Horváth and Horváthová, Kováč and Kováčová and Nagy and Nagyová, so Hungarian-origin surnames take the feminine ending in Slovak usage too, though a register may record a family differently. See our guide to Hungarian-speaking Slovak ancestry.
How to search endings
- Search the masculine, feminine, singular and plural forms.
- Strip the ending to the stem when a database is limited to exact matches.
- Try variants with and without -ová, especially for women.
- Check Hungarian and German forms in Slovakia and the borderlands. See our spelling guide.
- Use wildcard or sound-alike searches where a site offers them.
- Record every form and the source in which you found it.
Illustrative composite (not a real family): A reader searches a Czech archive portal for “Nováková” and finds nothing. She searches the stem “Novák” and finds her great-grandfather’s baptism, and in the marriage entry his wife appears as Nováková. In a census the household is entered under the masculine form.
Slovak surname pairs
The Slovak Interior Ministry’s lists, reported by The Slovak Spectator and TASR, show the pairing of masculine and feminine forms for the most common names:
| Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|
| Horváth | Horváthová |
| Kováč | Kováčová |
| Varga | Vargová |
| Tóth | Tóthová |
| Nagy | Nagyová |
| Baláž | Balážová |
| Molnár | Molnárová |
| Balog | Balogová |
| Lukáč | Lukáčová |
| Novák | Nováková |
Note that a Szabó was listed for men in one of the lists and Balogová for women in the same position, which shows that the male and female lists do not always line up name for name.
Hungarian and Slovak forms of the same name
Some surnames exist in both a Slovak and a Hungarian form, such as Kováč and its Hungarian variant Kovács, which ranks tenth among men in the Slovak list, and Horvát and Horváth. If an ending looks unfamiliar, check whether it is a Hungarian spelling of a Slovak name, or the reverse. The Slovak Interior Ministry’s lists treat Kováč and Kovács as separate entries.
A worked example
Suppose you are searching for Marie Nováková, born around 1870. Search the stem Novák for the family, search Nováková for her, and search Novákovi for the plural if the register names the family together. If the village is in a Hungarian-speaking area, also try Novák as a Hungarian-style entry. In a baptism you may then find the child under the father’s masculine form and the mother under the feminine form.
Common mistakes
- Searching only the feminine form for a woman. The register may use the masculine.
- Searching only the masculine form for the family. Plural and feminine forms appear.
- Reading an ending as a rule. Meanings overlap.
- Ignoring Hungarian forms. Hungarian-origin names appear in Slovak records too.
- Treating -ová as a possessive. It makes a feminine adjective.
Continue with our complete guide to surname origins and women’s surnames, and browse Surnames & Name Origins. Sources include Wikipedia on surname inflection, Wikipedia on Slavic name suffixes, Wikipedia on Czech names and Genealogy Indexer’s note on Czech and Slovak surnames.
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