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 The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Mi ...

also perceived as the equivalent of Germanic name

Adalbert Adalbert is a German given name which means "noble bright" or "noble shining", derived from the words ''adal'' (meaning noble) and ''berht'' (shining or bright). Alternative spellings include Adelbart, Adelbert and Adalberto. Derivative names inclu ...

("noble bright"), due to the saint Adalbert of Prague ( cs, svatý Vojtěch; pl, 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 Béla may refer to: * Béla (crater), an elongated lunar crater * Béla (given name), a common Hungarian male given name See also * Bela (disambiguation) * Belá (disambiguation) * Bělá (disambiguation) Bělá, derived from ''bílá'' (''whit ...

(like "noble").

Use in Czech

The proper Czech spelling of the name is 'Vojtěch', pronounced . The name contains two Czech orthography elements. The first is the caron, which is a form of a

diacritical mark A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek (, "distinguishing"), from (, "to distinguish"). The word ''diacritic ...

, 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 In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme () is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language. For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-west o ...

(pronounced as a

voiceless velar fricative The voiceless velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. It was part of the consonant inventory of Old English and can still be found in some dialects of English, most notably in Scottish English, e.g. in ''loc ...

). (The pair 'ch' is the only formal digraph in the

Czech alphabet Czech orthography is a system of rules for proper formal writing (orthography) in Czech. The earliest form of separate Latin script specifically designed to suit Czech was devised by Czech theologian and church reformist Jan Hus, the namesake of ...

.) A common shorter version of the name is Vojta, pronounced . 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 The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

, which made it the 28th most used name on Czech territory.Statistical records of the Ministry of Interior

Use in Slovak

The name is spelled without the caron above the letter e.

Foreign variants

* Polish: ''

Wojciech Wojciech () is a Polish name, equivalent to Czech Vojtěch , Slovak Vojtech, and German Woitke. The name is formed from two components in archaic Polish: * ''wój'' (Slavic: ''voj''), a root pertaining to war. It also forms words like ''wojownik ...

'', ''Wojtas'', ''Wojtasek'', ''Wojtak'', ''Wojtek'', ''Wojtczak'', ''Wojcik'', ''Wojcicki'', ''Wojt'', ''Wojteczek'', ''Wojtuś''. * Serbian: ''Vojteh'' * Croatian: ''Vojtjeh'' * Bulgarian: ''Vojtech'' * 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 following is a list of bishops and archbishops of Prague. The bishopric of Prague was established in 973, and elevated to an archbishopric on 30 April 1344. The current Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Prague is the continual successor of the bis ...

, the first recorded user of this name * Vojtěch Adam (born 1950), Czech politician *

Vojtech Alexander Vojtech Alexander ( Slovak), Alexander Béla ( Hungarian) (May 31, 1857, Késmárk ''(today Kežmarok, Slovakia)'' – January 15, 1916, Budapest) was a Hungarian radiologist of Slovak ethnicity, one of the most influential radiologists i ...

(1857–1916), Slovak radiologist *

Vojta Beneš Vojta Beneš (11 May 1878 – 20 November 1951) was a Czech educator, political leader in Czechoslovakia and brother of Edvard Beneš. Life and career Vojta Beneš was born in Kožlany, Bohemia, then a province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Ben ...

(1878–1951), Czechoslovak educator, political leader and brother of Edvard Beneš *

Vojtěch Dobiáš Vojtěch Dobiáš (born July 18, 2000) is a Czech professional ice hockey forward. He is currently playing for HC ZUBR Přerov of the Chance Liga on loan from PSG Berani Zlín. Dobias has been a member of Berani Zlín since 2014 where he featur ...

(born 2000), Czech ice hockey player *

Vojtěch Filip Vojtěch Filip (; born 13 January 1955) is a Czech politician and former leader of the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM). Early life and legal career Filip was born in 1955, in Jedovary near České Budějovice. After graduating fr ...

(born 1955), Czech politician *

Alberto Vojtěch Frič Alberto Vojtěch Frič (, 8 September 1882 Prague – 4 December 1944 Prague) was a famous Czech botanist, ethnographer, writer and explorer. He undertook 8 voyages to America, discovered, described and catalogued many species of cactus. South ...

(1882–1944), Czech botanist and ethnographer *

Vojtěch Jarník Vojtěch Jarník (; 1897–1970) was a Czech mathematician who worked for many years as a professor and administrator at Charles University, and helped found the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. He is the namesake of Jarník's algorithm for m ...

(1897–1970), Czech mathematician * Vojtěch Jasný (born 1925), Czech director *

Vojtěch Kubašta Vojtěch Kubašta (1914, in Vienna – 1992) was a Czech architect and artist. He created pop-up books. Vojtěch Robert Vladimír Kubašta was born in Vienna. His family moved to Prague when he was four years old and he lived there his entire li ...

(1914-1992), Czech artist and illustrator *

Vojtěch Machek Vojtěch Machek (born 28 February 1990) is a Czech professional footballer who plays FK Ostrov. Career Machek began his career in the youth team of Sparta Prague before moving to Feyenoord, and made his professional debut on loan at Excelsior dur ...

(born 1990), Czech footballer * Vojtech Milošovič (born 1992), Czech footballer *

Vojtěch Náprstek Vojtěch Náprstek (often called Vojta) (17 April 1826, in Prague – 2 September 1894), was a Czech philanthropist, patriot and politician, as well as a pioneering Czech language journalist in the United States. Background Vojtěch Náprste ...

(1826–1894), Czech journalist * Vojtech Plat (born 1994), Czech chess grandmaster *

Vojtěch Preissig Vojtěch Preissig (31 July 1873 – 11 June 1944) was a Czech typographer, printmaker, designer, illustrator, painter and teacher. He studied in Prague at the School of Applied Industrial Art (in Friedrich Ohmann's Decorative Architecture wo ...

(1873–1944), Czech type designer *

Vojtěch Šafařík Vojtěch Šafařík (26 October 1829 in Újvidék, Bács-Bodrog County, Vojvodina, Kingdom of Hungary (1526–1867), Hungary (today Serbia) – 2 July 1902 in Prague, Bohemia) was a Czech chemist, specialising in inorganic chemistry. Šafařík was ...

(1829–1902), Czech chemist *

Vojtech Tuka Vojtech Lázar "Béla" Tuka (4 July 1880 – 20 August 1946) was a Slovak politician who served as prime minister and minister of Foreign Affairs of the First Slovak Republic between 1939 and 1945. Tuka was one of the main forces behind the depor ...

(1880–1946), Slovak prime minister * Vojtech Zamarovský (1919–2006), Slovak writer *

Vojtěch Matyáš Jírovec Vojtěch Matyáš Jírovec (Adalbert Gyrowetz) (20 February 1763 – 19 March 1850) was a Bohemian composer. He mainly wrote instrumental works, with a great production of string quartets and symphonies; his operas and singspiele numbered mo ...

(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 William Vojtek (born 29 September 1943) is a retired Australian footballer. He migrated to Australia with his family as a child in 1956 and started playing for Essendon Juniors before representing Victoria from the under 13s to under 18s. Vojtek ...

(born 1943), Australian soccer player *

Elmer Voight Elmer is a name of Germanic British origin. The given name originated as a surname, a medieval variant of the given name Aylmer, derived from Old English ''æþel'' (noble) and ''mær'' (famous). It was adopted as a given name in the United Stat ...

(born Elemír Vojtko), American golfer of Slovak origin and father of actor Jon Voight * Hermína Vojtová, Czech actress * Ivan Vojtek, Slovak actor *

Jaroslav Vojta Jaroslav Vojta (27 December 1888 – 20 April 1970) was a Czechoslovak film actor. He appeared in more than 90 films between 1921 and 1970. Selected filmography * ''Karel Havlíček Borovský'' (1925) * ''The Lantern'' (1925) * '' Hraběnk ...

(1888–1970), Czech actor *

Jaroslav Vojtek Jaroslav (also written as Yaroslav or Jarosław in other Slavic languages) is a Czech and Slovak first name, pagan in origin. There are several possible origins of the name Jaroslav. It is very likely that originally the two elements of the nam ...

, Slovak director * Jiří Vojta, Czech actor *

Josef Vojtek Josef Vojtek (born 21 June 1965 in Teplice) is a Czech rock singer. He has been the lead singer of the Czech band Kabát since 1988. He was a judge on ''The Voice Česko Slovensko The Voice Česko Slovensko (Czech and Slovak for ''The Czech / ...

, Czech musician * Josef Vojtech (born 1925), Austrian weightlifter *

Linda Vojtová Linda Vojtová (born 22 June 1985 in Prague, Czech Republic) is a Czech model. She was the winner of the world final of Elite Model Look in 2000, held in Geneva, Switzerland. Since then, she has appeared in various international magazine publica ...

(born 1985), Czech model *

Martin Vojtek Martin Vojtek (born May 4, 1975) is a retired Czech professional ice hockey goaltender. He played with HC Oceláři Třinec in the Czech Extraliga during the 2010–11 Czech Extraliga season The 2010–11 Czech Extraliga season was the 18th seas ...

(born 1975), Czech ice hockey player *

Roman Vojtek Roman Vojtek (born 14 April 1972) is a Czech actor, television presenter, and singer. Life and career Early life and education Vojtek, born in Vsetín in the former Czechoslovakia, had to take care of himself from the age of fourteen due to th ...

, Czech actor *

Václav Vojta Václav Vojta (12 July 1917 – 12 September 2000) was a renowned Czech medical doctor who specialized in the treatment of children with cerebral palsy and developmental disorders. He discovered the principle of reflex locomotion, which is used to ...

(1917–2000), Czech physician (inventor of the Vojta method)

References

{{given name, type=both Slavic masculine given names Czech masculine given names Slovak masculine given names