Vojtěch (

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

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 In Christianity, a name day is a tradition in many countries of Europe and the Americas, as well as Christian communities elsewhere. It consists of celebrating a day of the year that is associated with one's baptismal name, which is normatively t ...

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 (historiography), Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th to the 10th century. They marked the start o ...

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 incl ...

("noble bright"), due to the saint

Adalbert of Prague Adalbert of Prague (, , , , ; 95623 April 997), known in the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia by his birth name Vojtěch (), was a Czech missionary and Christian saint. He was the Bishop of Prague and a missionary to the Hungarians, Poles, ...

(; ), 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 may refer to: Places in the Cze ...

(like "noble").

Use in Czech

The proper

spelling of the name is 'Vojtěch', pronounced . The name contains two

Czech orthography 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 ...

elements. The first is the

caron A caron or háček ( ), is a diacritic mark () placed over certain letters in the orthography of some languages, to indicate a change of the related letter's pronunciation. Typographers tend to use the term ''caron'', while linguists prefer ...

, 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 ''diacrit ...

, over the letter 'e'. The caron modifies the pronunciation of the letter 't' immediately preceding the ě. The second is a

digraph Digraph, often misspelled as diagraph, may refer to: * Digraph (orthography), a pair of characters used together to represent a single sound, such as "nq" in Hmong RPA * Ligature (writing), the joining of two letters as a single glyph, such as " ...

at the end of the name: the last two letters 'ch' in fact form a single

phoneme A phoneme () is any set of similar Phone (phonetics), speech sounds that are perceptually regarded by the speakers of a language as a single basic sound—a smallest possible Phonetics, phonetic unit—that helps distinguish one word fr ...

(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 ''lo ...

). (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 language, Czech. The earliest form of separate Latin script specifically designed to suit Czech was devised by Czech theologian and church reformist Jan Hus, ...

.) 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, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

, 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 in Slovak without the

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 Slavic roots: * ''wój'' (Slavic: ''voj''), a root pertaining to war. It also forms words like ''wojownik'' ("warrior" ...

'', ''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,'' ''Woytsek''

Given name

* Saint

(~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 an Austro-Hungarian radiologist of Slovak ethnicity, one of the most influential radiol ...

(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. Be ...

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

Edvard Beneš Edvard Beneš (; 28 May 1884 – 3 September 1948) was a Czech politician and statesman who served as the president of Czechoslovakia from 1935 to 1938, and again from 1939 to 1948. During the first six years of his second stint, he led the Czec ...

Vojtěch Dobiáš Vojtěch Dobiáš (born 18 July 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 feat ...

(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 ...

(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 ...

(1882–1944), Czech botanist and ethnographer *

Vojtěch Jarník Vojtěch Jarník (; 22 December 1897 – 22 September 1970) was a Czech mathematician. He 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 ...

(1897–1970), Czech mathematician *

Vojtěch Jasný Vojtěch Jasný (30 November 1925 – 15 November 2019) was a Czech director, screenwriter and professor who has written and directed over 50 films. Jasný made feature and documentary films in Czechoslovakia, Germany, Austria, USA & Canada, and ...

(1925–2019), 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 Ex ...

(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 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 wa ...

(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 (Adalbert Gyrowetz) (1763–1850) Bohemian composer.

Surname

Adam Vojtěch Adam Vojtěch (born 2 October 1986) is a Czech politician and lawyer who served as Minister of Health from 13 December 2017 to 21 September 2020, in both the first and second cabinets of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, and then for a second time fr ...

, 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 soccer player. He migrated from Croatia 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. ...

(born 1943), Australian soccer player * Elmer Voight (born Elemír Vojtko), American golfer of Slovak origin and father of actor

Jon Voight Jonathan Vincent Voight (; born December 29, 1938) is an American actor. Throughout his career, he has received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and four Golden Globe Awards as well as nominations ...

* Hermína Vojtová, Czech actress * Ivan Vojtek, Slovak actor * Jaroslav Vojta (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. Its feminine form is Jaroslava. There are several possible origins of the name Jaroslav. It is very likely that origin ...

, 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 Kabát is a Czechs, Czech hard rock band from Teplice formed in 1983. The members of the group are Josef Vojtek (lead vo ...

, Czech musician * Josef Vojtech (1925–?), Austrian weightlifter *

Linda Vojtová Linda Vojtová (born 22 June 1985 in Prague, Czech Republic) is a Czech Model (person), 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 ma ...

(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)

References

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