Hungarian names include surnames and given names. Some people have more than one given name, but only one is normally used. In the Hungarian language, whether written or spoken, names are invariably given in the "Eastern name order", with the family name followed by the given name (in foreign-language texts in languages that use Western name order, names are often given with the family name last). Hungarian is one of the few national languages in Europe to use the Eastern name order, like Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Khmer, Telugu, and some Basque nationalists.Robert Lawrence Trask The history of Basque 1997 "Finally, I must mention yet another of Sabino Arana's interventions. For some reason, Arana decided that the Basques should write their names surname first,..."
Orthography
Although Hungarian orthography is now simpler than it was in the 18th and the 19th centuries, many Hungarians still use the old spelling for their names. For example, the letter c is often written as cz. Letters such as q, w, x and y are usually seen only in foreign words but may also be seen in older spellings of names, especially in noble family names that originated in the Middle Ages.
Family names that refer to a place of origin and end with the suffix -i have two possible endings: they can be written with the -i suffix, which is used in every other context, or with a -y suffix, both of which mean "from" or "of" a place and are pronounced the same way. A family originating from Szeged and named after that fact thus may spell its surname "Szegedi" or "Szegedy", both of which mean "from Szeged" or "of Szeged". The -y ending is popularly but falsely believed to indicate noble origin. However, it is true is that -y is an older spelling, and older records were more likely to record people of higher rank and wealth.
Hungarian surnames
Hungarian normally puts family names, except for foreign names, first in Hungarian speech and text.Merriam-Webster's encyclopedia of literature Merriam-Webster, Inc - 1995 -- Page vii "Hungarian names, which also follow family-personal name order, are, on the other hand, treated as English names." [with diacritics] Some Hungarian surnames relate to professions like Szabó (tailor), Kovács (smith), Halász (fisher). Other surnames refer to ethnic origin. For example, common Hungarian surnames include Németh (German), Horváth (Croat), Tóth (Slavonian Croat, Slovak and Slovenian ), Lengyel (Polish), Oláh (Romanian) and Rác/Rácz/Rátz (outdated term for Serb).
During the 19th and the early 20th centuries, people in the Kingdom of Hungary who were of non-Hungarian ethnicity, with Jewish, German or Slovak ancestry, were encouraged to adopt Hungarian surnames.Stefania Ruzsits Jha, Reconsidering Michael Polanyi's Philosophy (2002), p. 7. "In the Hungarian part of the monarchy non-Hungarian ethnic people were encouraged to adopt Hungarian surnames and to learn the Hungarian language in addition to the several others they were already speaking". Some people with German names translated them directly into Hungarian.Pieter M. Judson, Marsha L. Rozenblit, Constructing nationalities in East Central Europe (2005), p. 41 "While some people with German names translated them directly into Hungarian (hence the draftsman Nikolaus Liebe — in English, Nicholas Love — became Miklos Szerelmey), others were more inventive in their choice of Hungarian surnames." Some of them just magyarized their original German surnames into Hungarian forms. However, many Hungarians of German descent retained their original surnames like Horn, Deutsch, Staller, Keller, Rockenbauer, Hoffmann, etc.Farkas, Tamás. 2009a. "Surnames of Foreign Origin in a Language Contact Situation. The Reasons and Ways of Their Changes and Their Influence on the Surname Stock in Hungary." In Wolfgang Ahrens, Sheila Embleton & André Lapierre, eds., Names in Multi-Lingual, Multi-Cultural and Multi-Ethnic Contact, Proceedings of the 23rd International Congress of Onomastic Sciences, 2008, Toronto: York University, p. 365-374.
A few given names are also used as family names, similarly to naming conventions in some other languages like German. Examples of this are Károly or László, which can be both used as given or family names.
The top three most frequent surnames in Hungary are Nagy, Kovács, and Tóth.Tamás Farkas, A Surname Typology Project: The Lessons Learnt from the Distribution of the Most Frequent Hungarian Surnames, 2018 Hungarian given names The origin of Hungarian names is closely related to the religious and dynastic history of the country. Many saints' names and royal names have Hungarian equivalents.
Female names
Anna after Saint Anne Boglárka: after the buttercup flower Csilla: derived from the word csillag, or "star" Enikő: coined by poet Mihály Vörösmarty in the 19th century and is derived from Enéh ("doe") Erzsébet: popular after the princess Saint Elizabeth of Hungary Eszter: after the Biblical character Esther Éva after biblical Eve Ildikó: of Germanic origin; compare to Hilda Ilona after Saint Helen Katalin: after Saint Catherine of Alexandria, whose cult gained great importance in the 15th century. Magdolna after biblical Mary Magdalene Margit: after Saint Margaret of Hungary. Mária: after the Virgin Mary Márta: mentioned in The Bible Melinda: popularized by playwright József Katona, who used the name in his 1815 historical tragedy, Bánk bán Orsolya: Hungarian form of the Latin name Ursula ("little bear") Piroska: of pagan origin, popular after Saint Piroska (renamed Irene), the daughter of King Ladislaus I of Hungary Ráhel: after the Biblical character Rachel Réka: after the name of Attila the Hun's wife Tünde: coined by poet Mihály Vörösmarty in the 19th century in his work Csongor és Tünde, derived from the word tündér ("fairy") Zsófia: Hungarian form of the Greek Sophia Zsuzsanna: Hungarian form of the Greek Susanna
Male names
Ádám: after biblical Adam András: a name that became popular after King Andrew I of Hungary and was given to three monarchs and to several princes. Antal: after Saint Anthony of Padua. Attila: after Attila, King of the Huns, from whom the Hungarian monarchs considered themselves direct descendants, which made this name become part of popular culture. Béla: a name of pagan origin that was given to four medieval Kings of Hungary and is still commonly used. Csaba: after one of the sons of Attila, the King of the Huns. Géza: a name of pagan origin that was given to two medieval Kings of Hungary and to many princes and is still popular. György: after King (and Saint) Stephen I of Hungary honoured Saint Martin of Tours but also Saint George, who has been since Hungary's early times one of its most important holy characters. Ferenc: after Francis II Rákóczi Prince of Transylvania, Ruling Prince of Hungary in war time. István: after the first King of Hungary, Saint Stephen I of Hungary Imre: after King Stephen's son, Saint Emeric of Hungary. János: after John the Baptist. Jenő: after Prince Eugene of Savoy, rescuer of Hungary and national hero. József: after Saint Joseph. Károly: after the king of French origin Charles I of Hungary. Lajos: after the King of French origin Louis I of Hungary. László: a name that was popularised by Saint Ladislaus I of Hungary. Lőrinc: after Saint Lawrence of Rome. Márk: after the evangelist Saint Mark. Márton: after Saint Martin of Tours, who was born in the Early Middle Ages in the territory of modern-day Hungary, before it existed as a country. Mátyás: after a Christian saint, whose name became even more popular after the reign of the King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary (1458–1490). Mihály after Michael Archangel. Péter: after Peter the Apostle. Sándor: after Alexander the Great, whose history was translated in medieval Hungary and made extremely popular during the 14th century. Tamás: After the biblical figure Saint Thomas. Vilmos Hungarian form of Wilhelm. Zoltán: a popular name of pagan origin that was very common in modern times after Zoltán of Hungary, a tribal chief in the early 10th century. Zsigmond: After King Sigismund of Hungary, a member of the House of Luxemburg who was the end of his life Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
Second given names and religious names While it is increasingly frequent that Hungarians are given a second given name, they tend to choose one that they prefer to use.
When baptised, a child may get an additional name (baptismal name), especially if there is no saint who bears its name, and so they take a name associated with a patron saint. At confirmation, children receive another given name, but it is not used. Both baptismal and confirmation names have religious significance only and are not on any official records.
Married names There is a wide range of selection of a married name. Until about the 18th century noblewomen kept their names at marriage and their children received their father's name; it became compulsory only under the reign of Joseph II. When Hungary was under Habsburg rule and became influenced by Western European traditions, women became known by their husbands' names. So for example Szendrey Júlia, marrying Petőfi Sándor, became Petőfi Sándorné (the -né suffix approximately means "wife of", and this is the Hungarian equivalent of "Mrs." as in "Mrs. John Smith"). This was both the law and the tradition until the 1950s. During the Communist rule of Hungary, great emphasis was put upon the equality of women and men, and from that time, women could either choose to keep their maiden name or take that of their husband. Most women did the latter except for artists.
Now, the alternatives for a woman when she marries are as shown below (using the examples of and – Júlia and Sándor are their given names):
Júlia can keep her maiden name, as Szendrey Júlia (now very popular, especially among more-educated women). Júlia gives up her name, adds the suffix -né to her husband's full name, and will be called . Júlia adds the suffix to her husband's family name, adds her full name and will be called . Júlia adds the suffix to her husband's full name, adds her full name and will be called Petőfi Sándorné Szendrey Júlia (less popular these days, because it is long to write). Júlia takes her husband's family name, keeps her given name "Júlia" and will be called .
The applicable law, which used to give substantially different sets of options to women and men, was declared sexist and unconstitutional. The ensuing amendment, in force since 2004, also lists options for men. Thus:
Sándor can keep his birth name, as Petőfi Sándor (the most common choice). Sándor takes his wife's family name, keeps his given name "Sándor" and will be called (often considered when the wife's family name sounds remarkably better than the husband's one). A further new option is hyphenation. In our example, the family name or will be introduced for one or both parties. A sole party not assuming the hyphenated form keeps his or her original family name.
Note that using opposing hyphenations (i.e. Szendrey-Petőfi Sándor and Petőfi-Szendrey Júlia) and exchanging names (i.e. Petőfi Sándor and Szendrey Júlia become Szendrey Sándor and Petőfi Júlia) are not allowed. Also, one can have a maximum of two last names. If one or both partners-to-be come to the marriage with more than one surname, they will have to agree which ones to keep.