This group project is open to any Sedlaks or Sedlaceks or surname variants. Sedlák meant 'farmer who owns his own land' in Old West Slavic. Over time, the name of this small social class of freemen became a stable surname, especially in Moravia but also in Bohemia, Upper Hungary (now Slovakia), and Silesia (SSW Poland). Sedlaks from these areas migrated further afield to Austria, Germany, and even Alsace, as well as to S. Scandinavia, the Baltic States, Ukraine, Russia, and the Balkans. Later, many Sedlaks from Czech lands and Hungary went to the U.S., Canada, UK, and Australia. However, where Czech (Bohemian-Moravian) Sedlaks versus Hungarian (Slovak and/or Magyar) Sedlaks settled in the U.S. was different. Please see the Background section and Surname list for more details.