As already noted, the Vermouzek family name is sparse and uncommon. It has no meaning and is certainly not of Czech origin. If it were domestic, it would be found elsewhere and could be interpreted somehow.

Professor Ladislav Hosák, who did a lot of genealogical research during the Protectorate, suggested that our name could be related to the word “varmužka, varmuža”. It is a brown substance that remains in the container when butter is churned. Varmužka, varmuža is called to people who are not talking, and this designation has passed into the surnames Varmužka and Varmuža. As I later found out, this word is not related to our family surname.

The wrong trail in the interpretation of our name could also be led by a record that appears in the materials stored in the Brno city archives. There is a copy of a lánové vizitacji from 1674, where our ancestor is recorded as Hans Mrnausek (Mrňausek) /1/. The copy was probably made by a scribe of Czech nationality and the name Mernausek, mentioned in the original of the visitation, did not mean anything to him and therefore he “spelled it out”. Probably he thought that the commissioners who made the inventories of the Lipůvka flax were mistaken and wanted to correct them. The fact that he was wrong is proved by the original of the lán visitation /2/ as well as the list of Lipuva subjects dated 8.2.1668, called the inventory of chimneys. In it our ancestor is listed under the name Jan Mermosek /3/. Both of these lists were made in Lipůvec. Each serf had to give his name and surname and the commissioners recorded them immediately.

If our ancestor’s name had been Mrňausek, there would not have been such numerous and varied confusions. The expression “mrňausek – little one” is transparent and so clear to everyone that no scribe would make it Mermausek, Marmosek or Wermausek.

The correctness of the forms Mermosek and Mermaussek is also confirmed by the oldest civil registration records. The first dates from 1692 and lists Polexyna Mermoskin /4/. Matric records can be trusted more than others. The spiritual administrator lived for years in contact with his parishioners, knew them personally and knew their names. There were not many parishioners. There were over twenty families living in Lipůvčka at that time.

I asked Professor František Klein from Brno, a genealogical researcher, to explain the origin and meaning of our surname. He thought that it might be somehow related to the German terms Bergmaus (marmot) or Meermaus (sea mouse). When these assumptions turned out to be wrong, he advised me to contact Dr. Leopold Zatočil, a professor at the University of Brno, a Germanist of European name. Even he did not know what to make of our family name. However, he pointed out to me that the Germans had a special institute for family research (Familienforschung) in Berlin. During the occupation I did not want to write there so that I would not have to commit myself to anything; after the liberation they did not answer me.

There were people in Germany who did genealogical research professionally. There was one in Munich who had over four million entries in his card catalogue. He demanded marks for the listings, which I of course did not have at that time, and therefore I could not ask him for the information. I studied at least the German lexicons of family names, but I could not find out anything from them. Vermouzek, or a similar name, does not appear there.

When I didn’t discover our name in the German area, I searched English dictionaries. There I found the term “marmoset”, which is most similar to some forms of our surname. In German it corresponds to the expression “Seidenaeffchen” (silk monkey). It’s an animal the size of a cat. In the 16th and 17th centuries, these monkeys were imported from America to Europe. They were kept in households. It was a big fashion at the time, like parrot breeding later. In a figurative sense, “marmoset” also means grotesque figures, for example on a fountain.

Whether the word marmoset occurs anywhere as a name I don’t know, but I wondered if it might have been a nickname that originated among English-speaking people. If they gave it to their comrade, they must have called him mermoset long enough for him to adopt the nickname as a name. The nickname may have been a fondly derisive name for an inexperienced young man who had fallen in with the hardened soldiers, the world-runners. A name for a boy whom no one coddles but whom everyone is happy to help. Perhaps he was nicknamed for his agility, his restlessness, which is typical of many members of our clan.

It seemed quite likely, but I was not satisfied with this hypothesis. I also turned to Josef Machek, a professor at the University of Brno, an etymologist of the European name. He gave me the address of the chairman of the European onomastic section, Professor Alfred Douzao in Brussels. I wrote to him, replied and sent my query to the Sorbonne in Paris. There, two professors dealt with the interpretation of names. One of them was the Slavist Prof. Vaillant. He published a short report on our name in the journal Francaise moderne. According to him, our surname comes from the old Provençal, a French dialect spoken in the south of France. He derived its origin from the term “merme”, which corresponds to the Latin minimus (small). A number of surnames in French are derived from “merme”. Their bearers are called Merminat, Mermillet, Mermelott, Mermant, Merment, Mermot, Mermoz, etc. One of them, Jean Mermos, was a famous aviator who attempted to fly across the Atlantic Ocean in 1922 but failed and died.

Members of families whose name is derived from the word “merme” live in the south of France in Savoy and northeast of Paris in the Franche-Comté region. I believe that our ancestor came from France and from the southern part of France. I shall justify this supposition in the next explanation.

Our name has undergone great changes over the centuries. It’s nothing strange. Its first bearer was a foreigner who probably couldn’t read or write and knew his name only as a sound. When he came to a foreign, Czech environment, scribes and priests wrote his name as they heard it. The first forms have the initial letter M, Mermosek, Marmoczek, later W and V prevailed, Wermózek, Wermauzek, Wermuzek, Wermaucžek, etc. From this, a dual spelling, Vermouzek and Vermousek, developed over time, and both are still used today.

In order to trace the succession of the various branches of the Vermouzek family, and to enable all who read or continue this work to do so, I have arranged all members of the family into generations, lines and families. I have recorded the first Vermouz, John, as the first generation and marked him with a Roman numeral. His sons form the second generation, marked II. Their children, i.e. John’s grandsons, form the third generation, III, etc. In order to distinguish between John’s sons and their descendants, I have designated them by the letters of the capital alphabet after the Roman numeral (IIA, IIB, IIC, etc.). The direct lines still have this capital letter (IIA), The branch lines have in addition an Arabic numeral (IV A 1, V B 2). Other branches are expressed by letters of the lower case alphabet and additional Arabic numerals (VII C 1 and 1) or VII C a, VII C b, etc. The illegitimate branch is distinguished by the lower case letter VIIIc.

According to this classification, each member of the genus can be assigned to a generation and a branch and its cleavage. I give the distinctions very often in the text, consistently in the table and in the alphabetical summary. I write the male members of the family in capital letters (JAN), those who married and started a family I underline in the chart and in the text with a solid line (JOSEF III A) . The year of birth is written above the name, followed by the = sign and the year of marriage, then a cross with the year of death (1730=1750+1790).

Below the man’s first and family name is written his wife’s first name, followed by a second or third wife if necessary. If a member of the family was married more than once, his wives are marked with Roman numerals I, II, III, etc. The date of birth for wives is not usually given, the year of death is given in the same way as for men. The children of the marriage are entered in the next column and bracketed in the parentheses facing the parents. Children of second or third marriages are placed in additional brackets. I abbreviate illegitimate children or children of unmarried mothers, if they did not marry and their offspring were not legitimated, by “illegitimate.” and dots running from mother to child

(Anna………..Josef nemanž.). At the end of the chronicle there is an alphabetical list with serial numbers, compiled according to the first names of the Vermouzkas, and for the male members of the family the generation and branch VC, VIIB1a is given. For wives, the maiden name, e.g. Barbara, nee. Kratochvílová. The next section gives the year of birth, marriage and death (1820=1840+1890). In the “Note” section there is an indication of the marriage, or whose wife it is, often the residence and house number.

1/ ABM Rkp No.153,
2/ SAB D1, 155a,
3/ SET 2 155/1,
4/ SAB E 67 no.83

Meaning of abbreviations:
AMB Brno City Archives. Headquarters at the New Town Hall in Brno.
RKP Manuscript no. …
ZDB Zemské plates of Brno. Deposited in the State Archive in Brno, Žerotínovo nám. 3
ZDB XX… volume number…, entry number…, line…
SAB (SOAB) (ZAB) State (regional) (provincial) archive in Brno. Brno, Žerotínovo nám. 3.