Hungary Naming Customs
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Naming Customs
In Hungarian, the surname (or a family name) is used first, followed by the given name. For example:
| NAGY János | John Nagy |
| KOVÁCS Mária | Mary Smith |
Hungarians also celebrate name days (each day in the calendar has one or more designated names.)
- there is usually just one given name
- surnames are generally a single names
- patronymic names were usually not used as a fixed surname
- his rule is also followed in Hungarian parish registers
Surnames were usually derived from common sources such as trades, qualities, ethnic origins, place names etc.:
| SZABÓ Ferenc | Frank Taylor |
| MOLNÁR Lajos | Louis Miller |
| KIS Mihály | Michael Little |
| FEHÉR Erzsébet | Elizabeth White |
| TÖRÖK Katalin | Catherine Turk |
Titles of nobility are put before the surnames:
| gróf NAGY János | Count John Nagy |
Bynames
Hungarians use a "byname" to help distinguish people with the same given names. The byname might be created from the fathers given name (as a patronymic name.) Other bynames might be created from an occupation or even a physical description. The byname might be used within the village or town, but were not fixed surnames. Further, a person might be known by one byname in a town, and be called by a different byname when traveling (referring to where they are from.) Bynames were not hereditary.
The first major class of bynames were patronymics that were created using the father's given name. It might be created by adding -fi to a father's meaning "his son" but may appear in records as -fi, -fia, -fy, or fÿ. For example:
- Fodor Jákobfi (Theodore, son of Jacob)
- Domokos Bertoldfia (Domokos, son of Bertold)
- Miklós Oszkárfy (Nicholas, son of Oscar)
- Simon Vilmosfÿ (Simon, son of Vilmos)
Married Women
Hungarian women keep their birth name throughout their life, married or not. There is no married name and maiden name in the sense familiar to Americans. However, in Hungarian a married woman can be referred to as a man's wife. To do this, the suffix -né is attached to the husband's given name. For example:
- Nagy Jánosné means wife of John Nagy
- Kovács Jánosné means wife of John Smith
- Klausenberger Ignáczné Bival Rosália means Rosália Bival wife of Ignácz Klausenberger
Although Nagy Jánosné resembles the American formal Mrs. John Nagy, use of -né belongs to Hungarian language grammar not Hungarian naming convention.
Further Reading
Excellent articles regarding Hungarian personal names can be found at: