In 1193 King Béla III gave a piece of land called terra Dubnicze to Vratslav, a fighting man of Trenčín Castle, as a reward for loyal service. The gift did more than hand over fields. It lifted Vratslav out of the castle's service and made him a nobleman with land of his own that his children would inherit — which is exactly how a great many Slovak villages first appear in writing, not founded on a date but written down the day somebody's rights to them were put in order. The name is older than the charter and comes from dub, the Slovak word for oak.V roku 1193 daroval kráľ Belo III. zem zvanú terra Dubnicze Vratslavovi, bojovníkovi Trenčianskeho hradu, za verné služby. Nešlo len o polia. Vratslava to vyňalo spod podriadenosti hradu a povýšilo medzi šľachtu, s majetkom, ktorý mohli zdediť jeho deti – a presne takto sa v písomných prameňoch objavuje množstvo slovenských dedín: nie ako založené v istý deň, ale ako prvý raz zapísané vtedy, keď si niekto dával do poriadku práva na ne. Meno je staršie ako listina a pochádza od slova dub.
