This surname of KAFKA is of Czechoslovakian origin, from the Czech 'kavka' jackdaw. The name is of imitative origin, and rendered in Polish as KAWKA. It was sometimes selected as a Jewish surname because of its phonetic similarity to the Hebrew male given name of Yaakov, but there does not seem to be any evidence to support this conjecture. The name has many variants which include Kavka, Kawka, Kawecki, Kaffka, Kawinski and Kawczynski. The earliest Polish surnames were patronymic. The personal names from which they were derived were mainly Slavonic, but as the Middle Ages progressed, traditional Slavic given names, began to give way to saint's names, mainly of Latin origin. Surnames derived from Slavonic personal names are of early origin, and tend to be borne by aristocratic families. The modern state of Czechoslovakia is going through a transitional phase as a result of the fall of the Iron Curtain. Its various regions encompassed the medieval provinces of Bohemia, Moravia, and Slovakia. The first two of these, where the language properly called Czech is spoken, were heavily subject to German cultural and linguistic influence from the Middle Ages onwards, being administratively a Crownland of Austria for much of the time until independence in 1918. This influence is reflected in the many Czech surnames derived from German, both from given names, and from vocabulary words. Occupational names are quite common in Czech as are nicknames, especially those referring to some physical feature. Many of the most common Czech surnames have the diminutive ending 'CEK', which is often found attached to these names. A notable member of the name was Franz Kafka (1883-1924) the Austrial novelist, born of German parents in Prague. He graduated in law from Prague, and although overwhelmed by a desire to write, found employment (1907-23) as an official. He continued to write and his short stories and essays exerted a tremendous influence on Western literature and other writers. The bulk of European surnames in countries such as England and France were formed in the 13th and 14th centuries. The process started earlier and continued in some places into the 19th century, but the norm is that in the 11th century people did not have surnames, whereas by the 15th century they did. The associated coat of arms is recorded in Rietstaps Armorial General. |
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