>I've been reading this newsgroup and other genealogyical web pages in >search of the VONDRA and REJDA surnames and have noticed these names >never seem to show up. Are these unusual last names or could they have >been altered during immigration? Vondra is a very common last name here-- in fact the new Ambassador to Washington from the Czech Republic is ALEKSANDR VONDRA. As Karel says it's derived from the nickname for Ondrej. Rejda I had never heard, but then I had never heard my last name either before I met my husband. Looking in the Prague phone book I find Rejda is perhaps a little more common than Tatoun-- there are 8 Rejdas and 5 Rejdovas (all women with the last name Rejda will have 'ova' on the end-- just as my last name is Tatoun but I am Tatounova here). Of course if your ancestors were from Moravia Rejda may be much more common there. Incidentally you are lucky that your last names don't have any diacritical marks. Mine does and it makes it impossible to pronounce in the states-- am thinking of changing it to Tatioun-- which is the way it used to be written in the old records-- to make it more pronounceable. Rejda is, however, pronounced differently than you might think-- as Rayda, since j is pronounced as y and e as something like a long a. -- Sarah Shaw Tatounova (I live in Prague and work as a translator).