Prokop Family History

Czech, Polish, Slovak, German, Ukrainian, Rusyn, Belorussian, Hungarian, and Croatian: from the personal name Prokop, Greek Prokopios, from pro ‘before, in front’ + kopē ‘cut’, originally an omen or well-wishing name meaning ‘success, prosperity’.

As a Christian name, it was taken to mean ‘pioneer’, as it was the name of the first victim of Diocletian's persecutions in Palestine in AD 30. He is venerated in the Orthodox Church, whence the popularity of the Russian personal name Prokofiy; the Ukrainian standard form of the name is Prokip.

The popularity of the name in Central Europe is largely due to a later Saint Prokop, patron saint of Bohemia, who founded Sázava abbey in Prague in the 11th century.