It would be reasonable to speculate that all
individuals having a relatively rare but distinctive
surname might be related to one another. Even in the
absence of specific documentation of such there is
circumstantial evidence that this is the case for the
Vyborny name. All Vyborny's known to date who can trace
their ancestry to times earlier than the middle of the
nineteenth century find their family roots in relatively
localized area of eastern Bohemia (see the map:
running approximately from Kutna Hora towards Havlickuv
Brod). Such a distribution would not arise by random
chance.
Oral tradition in certain Vyborny families as well as
the research done by Dr. Josef(*1864) Vyborny in
compiling the Vyborny book
give a simple and credible description of the origin of
the name. It is said that a certain man with the last
name of Cernik was the chief of the farm and estate of
the Jesuit Monastery in Kutna Hora, Bohemia in the early
to middle 1600's. The
monastery is the gray, baroque, building in the right
portion of the image on
the cover page of this Web site.
Mr. Cernik was in fact an "excellent"
manager and people began to refer to him as “vyborny”.
At some point the name stuck and Mr. Cernik became Mr.
Vyborny, a change that is said to be documented in the
archives in Prague.
Vyborny/Cernik is known to have had at least one son
named Frydrich, born around 1645, who is clearly part of
the historical record. Frydrich Vyborny (Wegborneg) in
turn had ten sons
from whom most, if not all, Vyborny's
are likely descended. Frydrich's sons, being freemen,
settled in various villages in eastern Bohemia, near
Kutna Hora and so founded various Vyborny family lines.
There is every indication that Vyborny's living in the
1700's considered themselves to be members of the same
family with this spirit still recoverable by Josef
(*1864) as he researched the family in the late 1800's.
In the present absence of documented counter examples,
the single Vyborny family theory provides the best fit to
available facts.
Contact:
cv@vyborny.com
Last updated: Feb 15, 1999
