CzechSlavic3 syllables
Meaning: glorious rule.
Vladislav
| Origin | Czech — a Slavic two-element name; the Latin form Ladislaus stands behind Slovak Ladislav and Hungarian László |
|---|---|
| Meaning | Glorious rule, from vlad (to rule; Czech vládnout) + slava (glory) |
| Pronunciation | VLAH-dyi-slaf. Czech softens d before i, so the middle syllable is closer to dyi than to dee, and the final v hardens to f |
| Popularity | Outside the current U.S. top 100. A traditional rather than a fashionable name in Czechia, and common in Russia and Serbia |
| Variants | Władysław (Polish), Ladislav (Slovak and Croatian), László (Hungarian), Vladislav (Russian and Serbian), Ladislaus (Latin) |
| Nicknames | Vláďa, Vladík, Slávek |
| Not the same as | Vladimir, which joins the same ruling element to mir rather than to glory |
| In Prague Castle | Vladislav Hall, finished around 1502 for Vladislav II Jagiellon, is where Czech presidents are sworn in |
History & meaning
Vládnout is the living Czech verb for governing, and sláva is glory, so this is rule and renown in one word — as direct a statement of ambition as the Slavic system produces. The same ruling element opens Vladimir and Ukrainian Volodymyr, and Polish builds the identical compound as Władysław. Latin scribes could not comfortably start a word with vl-, so they wrote Ladislaus, and that clerical spelling is where Slovak Ladislav and Hungarian László come from: three national names, one original.
Bohemia had a run of them. Vladislav I was duke in the 1120s; Vladislav II, duke from 1140, was crowned king by Frederick Barbarossa in 1158. The one who left a mark on the skyline is Vladislav II Jagiellon, king of Bohemia from 1471 and of Hungary from 1490, remembered at home as King Dobře, King Very-Well, for his habit of agreeing to whatever the nobles put in front of him. What he did do was build. Benedikt Ried vaulted him a hall at Prague Castle that was the largest secular room in Europe without internal supports, with a staircase wide and shallow enough for knights to ride up for the tournaments held inside it. Presidents of the Czech Republic still take the oath in it.
Why parents choose it
It sounds like what it means: three deliberate syllables, an opening cluster with no give in it, a king at the far end. Czech families choosing it are usually choosing continuity, and Vláďa takes the formality out for daily use.
Middle names for Vladislav
Vowel-led middles unstick the cluster: Vladislav Antonín, Vladislav Emil, Vladislav Otakar, Vladislav Jan. The middle names guide explains why that helps.
Famous Vladislavs
Vladislav Vančura trained as a doctor, chaired the avant-garde group Devětsil, wrote Capricious Summer and Marketa Lazarová, and was shot by the Gestapo in 1942 during the reprisals that followed Heydrich's assassination; he is generally counted among the finest prose stylists the language has produced. Vladislav Tretiak kept goal for the Soviet Union in the 1972 Summit Series and won three Olympic golds, carrying the Russian form of the same name.
Consider instead
Władysław is the Polish twin, identical in build and meaning. Vladimir keeps the ruling half and swaps the second element. Vratislav is the other Bohemian royal name in -slav. Compare them on the Czech names page.