Top Czech Names Follow International Trends
This just in: the top Czech baby names for 2022!
The Czech Republic is a small country in central Europe with a classic, self-contained naming culture. Traditional Czech names such as Vendula and Zdeněk have made the charts for decades, and proper Czech spellings are favored over streamlined international variations.
The country has naming laws in place and the population is relatively homogenous, so many of the Top 50 baby names have remained stable over the years. But recently, international trends have begun to influence the Czech charts.
Let's dive in:
Most Popular Czech Girl Names 2022
Most Popular Czech Boy Names 2022
Czech Girl Name Trends
Many of the top ten Czech girl names follow current international trends. Ema, the Czech spelling of Emma, is a Top 10 choice in countries across Europe, including Croatia, Slovenia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Sofie, the Czech spelling of Sophie and Sophia, is a chart-topper around the globe.
The top pick in the Czech Republic, Eliška, is also very reflective of contemporary girl name choices: the Ellie names. Currently, names like Ella, Elena, Eliana, and Eleanor have high billing in places like the UK, the United States, Argentina, and Australia, so Eliška, while more unique to the Czech Republic, slots in nicely to this hot naming trend.
Names with an “ie” ending (pronounced ee-yeh in Czech) are newly rising in popularity. If you take a look at Czech naming statistics prior to the 2000s, the majority of girl names ended in A. In recent years, names like Natálie, Viktorie, Rozálie, Julie, Emílie, and Valerie have shot up on the charts, which could also reflect contemporary parents wanting names that sound a bit more modern or international in sound.
However, tradition still reigns supreme when it comes to names in the Czech Republic. The country is relatively strict on naming laws, and parents tend to stick to approved names. Therefore, some of the Top 10 girl names have been national favorites for decades, like Anna, Tereza, and Kristýna, which appear among the Top 50 girl names since 1980.
Czech Boy Name Trends
Czech boy names tend to be even more traditional than their female counterparts, with less upheaval in the popularity charts over the years. Jan was the Number 1 boy name in the country for decades, but recently ceded its top spot to Jakub — a Top 10 favorite since 1984. David, Lukáš, and Tomáš are also Top 10 stalwarts. In fact, half of the most popular boy names have been in the Top 10 for at least twenty years!
The newer additions to the list, such as Filip, Matyáš, and Vojtěch, were also commonly used for decades, but have risen up the rankings more consistently in the past several years, while choices like Matěj and Daniel have fallen.
Newer trends have yet to infiltrate the Top 10 for boys in the Czech Republic. In fact, we'd argue that other countries caught up with Czech trends! Czech favorite Lukáš — and the related names Lucas and Luca — have experienced a huge surge in popularity around the world.