Jaroslav

Jaroslav (also written as Yaroslav or Jarosław in other Slavic languages) is a Czech and Slovak first name, pagan in origin. Its feminine form is Jaroslava.

There are several possible origins of the name Jaroslav. It is very likely that originally the two elements of the name referred to Jarilo - male Proto-Slavic deity of the sun, spring, and fertility, and slav meaning glory, i.e. "glory of the sun". However, with the adoption of Christianity in the Slavic countries the name began to be commonly understood not as a reference to a pagan deity, but rather to the "fervent worship of God"1 of the Bible.

People named Jaroslav

• Jaroslav Drobný, Czech tennis player
• Jaroslav Drobný, Czech footballer
• Jaroslav Filip, Slovak musician.
• Jaroslav Foglar, Czech novelist
• Jaroslav Halák, Slovak ice hockey player
• Jaroslav Hašek, Czech author, writer of The Good Soldier Švejk
• Jaroslav Heyrovský, Czech chemist and inventor, recipient of the Nobel prize
• Jaroslav Jakubovič, Czech jazz saxophonist
• Jaroslav Janiš, Czech race car driver
• Jaroslav Janus, Slovak ice hockey player
• Jaroslav Levinský, Czech tennis player
• Jaroslav Mostecký (1963–2020), Czech fantasy writer
• Jaroslav Naď, Slovak politician
• Jaroslav Nešetřil, Czech mathematician
• Jaroslav Pelikan, American Christian scholar
• Jaroslav Pospíšil, Czech tennis player
• Jaroslav Seifert, Czech poet, recipient of the Nobel prize
• Jaroslav Špaček, Czech ice hockey player
• Jaroslav Šrámek, Czechoslovak fighter pilot and military commander

Places

• Jaroslav (Pardubice District), a municipality and village in the Czech Republic