Boii

The European region of Bohemia most likely derives its name from the early Celtic or Germanic (the jury is still out on this) people known as the Boii.

Historians in the 19th and earlier 20th centuries also sometimes linked the Boii to the origins of the Bavarians, (Lat. Baioari), although that particular link is seldom accepted today.

Despite the derivation of the name, the ancient Boii should neither be confused with the inhabitants of what it now the modern state of Bavaria in Germany, nor those of Bohemia in the Czech Republic. By the 9th century, the Boii had become a distinct people from the Bavarians, whose rulers and leading families were in fact Franks. An argument can be made for an early intermixing with Etruscans from Italy; however, the same argument can also be made for the Celtic tribes in any area they inhabited.