How do you say it?

My full name is Anna Kiri Ondrejckova. While my first name is pretty standard but last name is a bit different. Most people (like everyone) finds my last name unpronounceable. Even I can’t pronounce my last name correctly. My Dad is from the Czech Republic while my mom is from Slovakia (as I write in my autobiographical essay).  My last name comes from my dad although our last names are different. As a matter of fact, my family has three last names spread across five people. My brother and Dad have the last name, Ondrejcek while my sister and I have the last name “Ondrejckova”. My mom has a totally different last name of Ruziakova.

Like in the U.S., in the Czech Republic last names are based on ancestry. For example, if someone is named “John Smith” that probably means someone in his family name was a black smith or some kind of smith. The same thing is true of Czech names. The most common last name in the Czech Republic is Novák which is the same as Newman. It means someone who is new. Ondrejckova can also be tied back to ancestry.

My last name, Ondrejckova can be separated into three parts. Ondre-jck-ova. The Ondre part is another name. It’s a first name that is similar to Andre. The jck part is a diminutive. It’s like saying that something is little. So, with those first two parts my name means “little Andre”. If you translate my brother and father’s, then it means “little Andre”. The last part of my name is ova. The ova are a female suffix ending meant to indicate gender. That is why all female members of my family have an ova ending. Ova translates to “belonging to”, or “of”. Although it’s outdated and Handmaid’s-e the ova represents male possession over a woman. With all these things combined my last name translates to “Of Little Andre” or “Female of Little Andre”. That’s why the ova ending is a female suffix, it’s supposed to show possession between a father and his daughter or between a husband and a wife. Traditionally women in the Czech Republic would take the surname of their husbands but also add the ova, female suffix. So, for example Novák would become Novákova.

I like my last name and enjoy the heritage of it. However, I’m not able to even pronounce my last name correctly, neither is my mother. Ondrejková is pronounced by rolling the r, which I am unable to do. Also, Ondrejcek/Ondrejckova are Czech names with a distinctive Czech pronunciation. My mom is Slovak and can’t correctly pronounce my dad’s name either. That’s why she chose to keep her last name. While I like my name, I wish could pronounce it correctly. During role calls my last name will often/always be mispronounced. Although this used to bother, I think all the mispronunciations are kind of funny. I can’t even say my own last name, I shouldn’t except someone to be able to say it correctly.

Family Names

Ema Ondrejckova (sister)

Anna Ondrejckova (me)

Jan Ondrejcek (brother)

Michal Ondrejcek (father)

Zuzana Ruziakova (mother)