vokativ

What it is and what it does

Vokativ is a Czech-language library that inflects personal names and surnames into vocative case (the form used when addressing someone directly). It takes a name in nominative case and returns the vocative form in lowercase Unicode. The library includes automatic gender detection based on Czech name frequency statistics and can distinguish between given names and surnames, which affects inflection rules for female names.

The package is designed specifically for Czech and relies on linguistic rules and statistical data for Czech names. It provides a simple API with optional parameters to override automatic gender and name-type detection when needed. The maintainer notes that the function may not work correctly for names of foreign origin.

Use it for:

• Generate correct vocative forms for addressing Czech users in personalized emails or greetings.
• Automatically inflect Czech names in customer relationship management or user-facing applications.
• Detect gender from Czech names for form prefilling or pronoun selection in Czech-language interfaces.
• Build Czech language processing pipelines that require proper name declension.
• Handle surname inflection for formal Czech correspondence or official documents.

Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying

Converts Czech given names and surnames into vocative case (5th case) with automatic gender and name-type detection.

Yes, if you are building a Czech-language application that needs correct name vocatives and can tolerate an abandoned package. The library is stable, has no known vulnerabilities, and low install friction. However, be aware that it receives no maintenance and was last tested on Python versions up to 3.8; use it only if Czech name handling is core to your application and you are comfortable maintaining a fork if needed.

Install

vokativ on PyPI

pip install vokativ

uv add vokativ

poetry add vokativ

Installing vokativ

Before you install

Low install friction with a single lightweight dependency (six). Maintenance is abandoned—last commit was 2020-08-13 and no releases since 2020-03-31—so expect no updates for bug fixes or Python version support beyond what was tested.

License in practice

MIT license is permissive; you may use, modify, and distribute this package freely with minimal restrictions.

Quickstart

pip install vokativ

from vokativ import vokativ
print(vokativ('Petr'))  # Returns 'petře'
print(vokativ('Novák', last_name=True))  # Returns 'nováku'

Package was tested on Python 2.6, 2.7, and 3.x; modern Python versions may work but are untested by the maintainer.

Verify before relying

• Behavior on Python 3.9+ is untested; last release predates those versions.
• Whether six dependency is still necessary or if it can be dropped for modern Python-only use.
• Accuracy of gender detection on names outside the Czech statistical database mentioned in the description.

Package facts

Evidence: vokativ-1.2.1-py2-none-any.whl

Keywords: czech, name, vocative, vokativ, jmena, ceska

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