Meaning of Last Name

Černý (ˈtʃɛrniː), rendered without diacritics as Cerny, is a common Czech surname. Originally, it is an adjective in the Czech language, meaning "black"; like many other surnames, this originally made reference to a person's physical qualities, namely dark hair colour or perhaps darker complexion. Cognate surnames exist in other Slavic-speaking countries, e.g. Čierny in Slovak, Czarny in Polish, Cherny (Chorny) (Чёрный) in Russian, though they are not as prolific as in the Czech Republic. There also exist Anglicised, Germanised or Polonised forms (Cherny, Tscherny, or Czerny, respectively), and other mutations. Surnames with the meaning "black" also exist in many other languages, including German (Schwarz and its variants), English (Black), Chinese (黑 Hēi), etc. Related surnames include Černík, Chernenko, Chernov, etc.