The Wessely family originates from Moravia, an historical region in central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, one of the former Czech lands. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region. Wessely is a rather common family name: the root Vesel or Wesel means "pleasure" or "fun" in most slavic idioms.

The main city of the region is Brno, in those times named Brünn. The two places whose name appears in the documents are Slaup (now Sloup) and Walchov (see picture, now Valchov).