In Czechia, name days are called svátek: every day of the year has one or more names assigned to it in the calendar, and whoever bears that name celebrates almost like a second birthday. Congratulating a colleague, neighbor, or acquaintance on their svátek is simply good manners — people bring flowers, a box of chocolates, or a bottle of wine, and the name-day calendar is printed in every Czech diary and hangs on the wall in almost every office.
For many newcomers, this tradition comes as a surprise: you might suddenly discover that "today is your day" when colleagues show up with a box of chocolates. In this guide, you'll find the full name-day calendar by month, the etiquette of congratulating people, gift ideas, statistics on the most common names, and a table matching Russian and Ukrainian names to their Czech equivalents.
The word svátek in Czech means both "holiday" in general (public holidays are státní svátky) and an individual's name day. The second meaning is also called jmeniny. When a Czech asks "Kdy máš svátek?", they're asking about your name day, not your birthday.
Historically, the name-day calendar grew out of the Catholic calendar of saints: a saint's feast day became the day for everyone who shared their name. Throughout the 20th century, the list was revised many times and expanded with secular and borrowed names. Today, the standard civil calendar contains around 370 names, covering more than 90% of the country's population, while expanded reference books list several thousand names. It's worth knowing that there's no single "official" list of name days in Czechia — the calendar is maintained by publishers and linguists, and different versions can disagree on certain dates. If a date really matters, check it against several sources, such as Svátky.centrum.cz or the calendar on Kurzy.cz.
Below is the standard Czech name-day calendar used in most print and online calendars. Public holidays that don't have a name attached to them are marked separately — the full list of days off is in our Czech holiday calendar.
| Month | Who celebrates svátek (day — name) |
|---|---|
| January | 1 Nový rok (no name day), 2 Karina, 3 Radmila, 4 Diana, 5 Dalimil, 6 Tři králové (no name day), 7 Vilma, 8 Čestmír, 9 Vladan, 10 Břetislav, 11 Bohdana, 12 Pravoslav, 13 Edita, 14 Radovan, 15 Alice, 16 Ctirad, 17 Drahoslav, 18 Vladislav, 19 Doubravka, 20 Ilona, 21 Běla, 22 Slavomír, 23 Zdeněk, 24 Milena, 25 Miloš, 26 Zora, 27 Ingrid, 28 Otýlie, 29 Zdislava, 30 Robin, 31 Marika |
| February | 1 Hynek, 2 Nela, 3 Blažej, 4 Jarmila, 5 Dobromila, 6 Vanda, 7 Veronika, 8 Milada, 9 Apolena, 10 Mojmír, 11 Božena, 12 Slavěna, 13 Věnceslav, 14 Valentýn, 15 Jiřina, 16 Ljuba, 17 Miloslava, 18 Gizela, 19 Patrik, 20 Oldřich, 21 Lenka, 22 Petr, 23 Svatopluk, 24 Matěj, 25 Liliana, 26 Dorota, 27 Alexandr, 28 Lumír, 29 Horymír (leap years only) |
| March | 1 Bedřich, 2 Anežka, 3 Kamil, 4 Stela, 5 Kazimír, 6 Miroslav, 7 Tomáš, 8 Gabriela, 9 Františka, 10 Viktorie, 11 Anděla, 12 Řehoř, 13 Růžena, 14 Rút a Matylda, 15 Ida, 16 Elena a Herbert, 17 Vlastimil, 18 Eduard, 19 Josef, 20 Světlana, 21 Radek, 22 Leona, 23 Ivona, 24 Gabriel, 25 Marián, 26 Emanuel, 27 Dita, 28 Soňa, 29 Taťána, 30 Arnošt, 31 Kvido |
| April | 1 Hugo, 2 Erika, 3 Richard, 4 Ivana, 5 Miroslava, 6 Vendula, 7 Heřman a Hermína, 8 Ema, 9 Dušan, 10 Darja, 11 Izabela, 12 Julius, 13 Aleš, 14 Vincenc, 15 Anastázie, 16 Irena, 17 Rudolf, 18 Valérie, 19 Rostislav, 20 Marcela, 21 Alexandra, 22 Evženie, 23 Vojtěch, 24 Jiří, 25 Marek, 26 Oto, 27 Jaroslav, 28 Vlastislav, 29 Robert, 30 Blahoslav |
| May | 1 Svátek práce (no name day), 2 Zikmund, 3 Alexej, 4 Květoslav, 5 Klaudie, 6 Radoslav, 7 Stanislav, 8 Den vítězství (no name day), 9 Ctibor, 10 Blažena, 11 Svatava, 12 Pankrác, 13 Servác, 14 Bonifác, 15 Žofie, 16 Přemysl, 17 Aneta, 18 Nataša, 19 Ivo, 20 Zbyšek, 21 Monika, 22 Emil, 23 Vladimír, 24 Jana, 25 Viola, 26 Filip, 27 Valdemar, 28 Vilém, 29 Maxmilián, 30 Ferdinand, 31 Kamila |
| June | 1 Laura, 2 Jarmil, 3 Tamara, 4 Dalibor, 5 Dobroslav, 6 Norbert, 7 Iveta a Slavoj, 8 Medard, 9 Stanislava, 10 Gita, 11 Bruno, 12 Antonie, 13 Antonín, 14 Roland, 15 Vít, 16 Zbyněk, 17 Adolf, 18 Milan, 19 Leoš, 20 Květa, 21 Alois, 22 Pavla, 23 Zdeňka, 24 Jan, 25 Ivan, 26 Adriana, 27 Ladislav, 28 Lubomír, 29 Petr a Pavel, 30 Šárka |
| Month | Who cel |
|---|
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