Family name origins & meanings
- Czech and Slovak (Němec) : ethnic name for a German or German-speaker, from němec ‘German’. In Old Czech this word was used to denote any foreigner, being derived from němý ‘mute’, referring to an inability to speak Czech. This name is also found in Germany.
- Slovenian : ethnic name from Nemec ‘German’, a derivative of the adjective nem ‘mute’ (see 1). Germans (mainly Bavarians) were brought in large numbers by feudal overlords to the territory of present-day Slovenia and of the early medieval Slovenian state Carantania (present-day Carinthia and Styria, now divided between Austria and Slovenia).