Senate approves amendment to let women to remove -ová suffix from surname

Senators have approved an amendment to allow women to remove the suffix -ová, , which denotes the grammatical gender, from their surname. Currently, Czech law allows women to give up the suffix only under certain conditions, for example if they have a foreign nationality.

The amendment to the Law on Registers of Births, First Names and Surnames was proposed by the government Commissioner for Human Rights, Helena Válková, and Pirate Party deputy Ondřej Profant.

If signed into law by President Miloš Zeman, parents could also decide to keep the masculine form (thus without the suffix –ová) of their daughters’ surname.

Most Czech linguists support the current practice, arguing that the ending -ová as an essential part of Czech grammar and ditching the suffix may lead to confusion in communication.