Hi, I am shooting a little blindly in the dark here, and trying to find what I can. =) My family is Czech, on my maternal grandmother's side. The surnames I have to work with are Loyjka and Houdek. I know that it is Bohemian (in as much as when I was younger, just after the Czech/Slovak split, I remember looking at a map and pointing at the town and going "OK, we're Czech, not Slovak, because we're on that side of the border"). I am trying to get a copy of the paper from my grandmother which has the name of the town on it. What I know is: -the Loyjka's came to Ely, Iowa before moving to Cuba, Kansas -Frances was a family name. And it was definitely Frances with an "e", at least in the name of my great-grandmother, because she would throw fits if you spelled it with an 'i' -Frances Houdek (nee Loyjka) came over to the US when she was about 3 years of age, and died in 1958. Age was somewhere from 58-78 (my grandmother and aunt were arguing, quite vociferously, as to her age at death) So... can anyone help? In any way, shape or form? Surname meanings, how common it is, etc? Thank you! Darcey
Hi, unfortunately I can give you only very little info: -I m quite sure that surname Loyjka isn't of czech origin, and almost sure that nobody of that name lives in CR (if there were at least 5 ppl of that surname, it would be listed in "list of commonest czech surnames" and white pages finds nobody too) -Houdek is relatively common surname (more than 3.5K ppl) -translation of Frances is Františka, if there was "i" in it (Francis) it would be František. Since Františka is name for woman and František for man, I quite understand why your great-grandma wanted it spell with "e" .
There are some Lojkas (cca 600 ppl - Lojka, Lojek and Lojková) and Loykas in the Czechlands. The surname Loyka is very rare (7 men - Loyka, 11 woman - Loyková).
This looks like one of those cases where names were Americanized... Lojka becomes Loyka, for example. As a side note, in the US the name Francis is a man's name and Frances (with an e) is a woman's name. Many men who go by the nickname "Frank" are actually named Francis. Good luck on your search. Some of my ancestors lived around Ely, Iowa -- there were (and still are) many, many people of Czech/Moravian ancestry there. Susan
In 1900, Frances Lojka's birthdate is recorded as April 1885. The census says she came to the US in 1888. Her birthplace is "Austria" and her parents are born in "Hungary." In 1910, her parents are born in Bohemia. ~Sharon
Hi, my name is Martin Klimeš, my mother is Marta Houdek. First, I would like to apologize for my english. I don´t speak good. I´m looking for family in USA. I have a common ancestor with Joseph William Houdek (1877 - 1958). I´m living in Chomutov, Czech republic. I'm working on a pedigree of Houdek family. Contact: martinklimeschomutov@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/martin.klimes/ I would like to visit Kansas (Munden, Cuba, Concordia and other places). Pls, take care in this covid months (years).
