Information on Karel -- Meaning, Origin, and/or Other Information

Karel: In 2006, 124,784 Karels lived in the Czech Republic, making the name the thirteenth most popular Czech name.

Karel has a Dutch origin, meaning Strong man.
Karel has a Czech origin, meaning Strong man.
Karel has a Slovene origin.

Other forms of Karel are Charles.

Famous People:
Fullname: Karel Hynek Macha
Fame: Poet
Comment: His lyrical epic poem Maj (May), published in 1836 shortly before his death, was judged by his contemporaries as confusing, too individualistic, and not in harmony with the national ideas. Czech playwright Josef Kajetan Tyl even wrote a parody on Macha's style, Rozervanec (The chaotic). Maj was rejected by publishers, and was published by a vanity press at Macha's own expense, not long before his early death.

Macha's genius was discovered and glorified much later by the poets and novelists of the 1850s generation and Maj is now regarded as the classic work of Czech Romanticism, and is considered one of the best Czech poems ever written.

He also authored a collection of autobiographical sketches titled Pictures From My Life, the 1835–36 novel Gypsies, as well as several individual poems, besides a journal in which, for instance, he detailed his sexual encounters with Somkova.

Fullname: Karel Capek
Fame: Writer
Comment: One of the most influential Czech writers of the 20th century. He introduced and made popular the frequently used international word robot, which first appeared in his play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) in 1921. Karel credited his brother, Josef Capek, as the true inventor of the word robot.