According to my father (100% Czech), his parents taught him the Czech alphabet, which has 35 letters but no W. The letter V was substituted for W -- which explains why our family name was for many years pronounced and spelled "Valla" instead of "Walla." His parents emigrated to America from villages in Hungary, parts of which (after 1920) came to be known as Czecholslovakia. Thank you very much, Cathy in Tampa Ongoing Surname Searches as of 1/2004 A U S T I N / D R I S C O L L / F U L L E R / HRADEL K O Z I S K I / K U P E C Z M C L E N D O N / M U R P H Y / N A G L E / R U P P E R T / R Y A N S T E P H E N S / W I L L I A M S / W A L L A