Looking for any information on Wodohodsky surname

Discussion in 'Looking for Ancestors' started by calamity_jane04, Aug 12, 2007.

  1. calamity_jane04

    calamity_jane04 New Member

    My boyfriend's ancestry is Bohemian. His surname in America is Wodohodsky. His family is the only Wodohodsky's in the USA! I have spent countless hours researching, and I can't find anything on his name except for "sky" is "from". He is the last male Wodohodsky in the USA, and we fear he is the only on left in the world to carry on his family name.
    Are there any Wodohodsky's or anything similar left in Czech? Does anyone know what his name means?
    Thank You
     
  2. meluzina

    meluzina Well-Known Member

    could be Vodochodský and was changed in u.s. somewhere along the line_
     
  3. eso

    eso Well-Known Member

    "sky" in this case means that word is adjective-like name.

    How meluzina said - it could have been originally Vodochodský.

    In that case it's maybe combined from voda (water) and chodit (to walk) - someone, who walk on water? / Maybe even religious link to Jesus? :) / Or maybe he only walked along water.

    Or maybe it's from vodit (to guide) and Chod (Chod - member of group of people within certain Bohemian region, who were border guards - mostly between 13th and 16th century )
     
  4. Jana

    Jana Well-Known Member

    According to the website of ministerstvo vnitra (Ministry of Internal Affairs), there are 73 men with the surname of Vodochodský living in CR as of May 9, 2007.
     
  5. BMoody

    BMoody Well-Known Member

    The last name might have other spellings... for instance "Wojciehowski."

    This 1920s US census shows a few more here in the states http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/fac ... howski&fn=

    Oh, I went to high school with three brothers and sisters named "Wojohowski" and their mother was 100% Polish. I really believe that"Wodohowski" is one of many variants and that it might be a Polish surname. The Poles, Czechs, and Germans have mingled for years though, so I don't think you can place the exact origin. If your boyfriend has Bohemian in his oral history, then his particular part probably comes from the Czech side, but don't just look there. They might be Czech, but they might have been Polish years before that. Don't worry, there a few more of his kind out there :].
     
  6. BMoody

    BMoody Well-Known Member

  7. wer

    wer Well-Known Member

    Adjective denoting the geographical origin. “Vodochodský” means “of/from Vodochody”. There are two villages “Vodochody” in the Czech Republic (Loc: 50°21'30.95"N,14°15'1.78"E and Loc: 50°12'24.51"N,14°23'52.17"E), one is practically a part of Prague.
    “Vodochody” means “fords/wades” (“brody” in Czech).
    "Wojciehowski" is a different name. Most likekely Polish “Wojciechowski” (the 15th most common surname in Poland), but it could be also Czech “Vojtěchovský”.
    The name is derived from a local name (e.g. Wojciechów/Vojtěchov; Wojciechowice…) which is derived from the first name “Wojciech/Vojtěch/Adalbertus/Adalbert/Abrecht/Albert” (Polish/Czech/Latin…).
     
  8. eso

    eso Well-Known Member

    Interesting. I didn't know that. It makes sense thought.
     
  9. BMoody

    BMoody Well-Known Member

    "Wojciehowski" might have been spelled Wodohoski upon arrival at Ellis Island. It was quite common for US immigration officials to spell a name how it sounded, and not how it was spelled. I'm just saying that it could have been the Polish surname on a Czech citizen :-]... just some two cents.
     
  10. Viktor

    Viktor Well-Known Member

    The "sky" ending also denotes a Jewish heretige in the old Czechoslovakia/Bohemia
     
  11. Troll

    Troll Well-Known Member

    I did not know that Count Kinský is of Jewish origin.
     
  12. wer

    wer Well-Known Member

    What? :shock: :shock:

    Possibly vice versa, it denotes a Slavic heritage among Jews.
     
  13. Viktor

    Viktor Well-Known Member

    I do not knoe about the Cont...Perhaps you need to look "closer" at the family tree. In my mothers family -- Stransky,Adolf & Jaroslav(originaly from Habry)--their headstones (in Brno & London) have a "star" after their birthdate, and a "cross" at time of death!Apparently they "converted"sometime in 1939 to avoid being relocated to the Nazi "work camps"!Apparently they just did not beleive in the slogan; "Arbeit macht frei"....
     
  14. wer

    wer Well-Known Member

    Try to say it to Kinskýs!!! :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

    Or, check the family tree yourself. :wink:

    “Stránský” is definitely a Slavic surname.

    What an extravagance! :shock: :twisted: :shock: :twisted:

    Maybe, it’s because the star (asterisk) is a common symbol for the “birth(date)” and the cross (dagger) is a common symbol for the “(date of) death”. :wink:

    Apparently? :shock:

    Am I missing something? :shock:
     
  15. dzurisova

    dzurisova Well-Known Member

    Your missing something?!!! :shock: I feel like I'm missing half the conversation. Blame it on my Americanism please! :wink:

    I don't know who Kinskýs is.

    I don't know what "Arbeit macht frei" means.

    And goodness Wer, are you making fun of someone's tombstone when you say,
    Are you implying that someone spent too much money on a tombstone? Or are you being sarcastic in saying they didn't spend enough? I hope it's neither of those. But then again, they say Czech humor is quite different than American humor.
     
  16. GlennInFlorida

    GlennInFlorida Well-Known Member

    "Arbeit macht frei" means

    Work will make you (set you) free

    It was written over the gates of some concentration camps.
     
  17. Jana

    Jana Well-Known Member

    "Arbeit macht frei" was a motto on the entrance gates of nazi concentration camps. It means "labor makes (you) free". :evil:
     
  18. dzurisova

    dzurisova Well-Known Member

    I'm asking you guys to blame my ignorance on my Americanism and then an American answers. :oops: :oops: :lol: Sorry, perhaps you can blame it on my youth or just plain ignorance! :twisted:
     
  19. Jana

    Jana Well-Known Member

    And about that remark of extravagance (by wer) - it was meant ironically and related to the following explanation -
    In our culture, they are commonly used on tombstones and urns instead of the words born and deceased...
     
  20. wer

    wer Well-Known Member

    I’m definitely missing where the Troll’s reference to Jews comes from. Not speaking about the concentration camps. (BTW, the relocation to the camps was hardly avoidable by the converting.)

    The House of Kinský is one of the most oldiest Bohemian aristocratic families. It is very hardly linkable to Jews.

    No, I commented the usage of the asterisk and dagger symbols pointed out by Troll as something very special. In fact, it’s very common.

    No, it is not your Americanism. It’s your admiration of the GOP. 8) (Just in case, that was irony again. :wink:)
     

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