Cerny (surname)

Černý (IPA: ['tʃɛrnɪː] ), rendered without diacritics as "Cerny", is a common Czech surname. Originally, it is an adjective in the Czech language, meaning "black"; like many other surnames, this originally made reference to a person's physical qualities, namely dark hair colour or perhaps darker complexion.

Cognate surnames exist in other Slavic-speaking countries, e.g. "Čierny" in Slovak, "Czarny" in Polish, "Cherny" ("Чёрный") in Russian, though they are not as prolific as in the Czech Republic. There also exist Anglicised, Germanised or Polonised forms ("Cherny", "Tscherny", or "Czerny", respectively), and other mutations.

Surnames with the meaning "black" also exist in many other languages, including German ("Schwarz" and its variants), English ("Black"), Chinese ("黑" "Hēi"), etc.

Related surnames include "Černík", "Chernenko", "Chernov", etc.

Female form

:"Main article: Czech name"

Unlike the majority of Czech surnames (and those of other Slavic languages), "Černý" does not use the suffix "-ová" for its female form. Instead, since the name is derived from an adjective, the feminine form of that adjective is used. This yields "Černá" in Czech, "Čierna" in Slovak, "Czarna" in Polish, etc.

Notable Černí and Cernys

* David Černý (born 1967), Czech sculptor
* Ervín Černý (1913-2001), Czech Professor, Archeologist and Poet
* Harald Cerny (born 1973), Austrian football midfielder
* Jan Černý (1874–1959), Czechoslovakian politician
* Jan Černý (mathematician)
* Jan Černý-Nigranus, 16th century historian
* Jaroslav Černý (1898-1970), Czech Egyptologist
* JoBe Cerny, voice-over personality and character actor
* Jon Cerny, programmer, teacher, and Civil War enthusiast
* Mark Cerny (born 1964), programmer
* Petr Černý, Canadian mineralogist
* Radek Černý (born 1974), Czech footballer
* Vlastimil Cerny (born 1963), Czech/Canadian competitive swimmer

ee also

* Czerny
* List of most common surnames