Czech surname "Nevěřil"

[kaitlin's inferno]

Hi everyone,

I've posted to a few forums about this name, without results. Perhaps I'll be lucky, and someone here can help.

It's my grandfather's surname, and it seems he was a Czech man who married an Austrian woman. I understand this word is a verb meaning "did not believe". It's apparently a common name in the Olomouc region, yet I cannot find much information about it. I have two primary questions:

1. Is this surname of Czech origin, or from somewhere else?

2. What is the background of this name? Why would someone be named a nonbeliever?

Thanks in advance,

Kaitlin

[hreru]

In case you're still interested:

1) Yes, it is. In Czech, surnames that have a form of a 3rd person singular masculine verb in past tense are quite frequent. So apart from Nevěřil (he didn't believe) you might meet Nepil (he didn't drink), Nezval (he didn't invite), Vyskočil (he jumped up), Hrabal (he was raking/digging) and others like that. In feminine form, you add the usual -ová suffix, so your grandmother's name should be Nevěřilová.

2) No idea about the background, unfortunately. But to me, the name isn't any surprising - as I wrote, this surname structure is pretty normal. Is it perhaps supposed atheism of the name that you wonder about? Then, Czech "věřit", just like English "to believe" doesn't only mean "to believe in God". So, the name might have something to do with religion, but doesn't have to at all. Still, it would have been funny if your grandfather had chosen priest for his profession.

(PS: I've just found out there's a surname Věříš (you believe) in Czech. Now that I do find surprising, because 2nd person singular verb in present tense is very unusual for a surname.)

[kaitlin's inferno]

[quote="hreru"]In case you're still interested:

Hi hreru,

Thanks so much for the reply! It's good to know the name is not particularly strange. Perhaps I'll never know really where the name itself originated.

And, funnily enough, my great great grandfather was a religious professor at a university in Czechia