| Hungarian language |
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Closeup view of a Hungarian keyboard
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| Alphabet |
| ő ű cs · dz · dzs · gy ly · ny · sz · ty · zs |
| Grammar |
| Noun phrases · Verbs T-V distinction |
| History |
| Other features |
| Phonetics and phonology Vowel harmony Hungarian names Tongue-twisters |
| Hungarian and English |
| Hungarian pronunciation of English English words from Hungarian |
| Regulatory body |
Hungarian names invariably use the "Eastern name order", or family name followed by given name, except in foreign language text. Hungary is the only European and Western country to do so.
This way of writing names is not used for people who are not Hungarian (or not from another country where Eastern name order is used). For example, "Tony Blair" will stay as "Tony Blair" in Hungarian texts. However names with an important tradition actually are translated and written in the Hungarian way, like Kálvin János for John Calvin.
Leaders of countries are translated only in the case of Monarchs and members of their family. For example, Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom becomes II. Erzsébet, and Pope Benedict XVI becomes XVI. Benedek pápa, but Fidel Castro remains the same.
The names of some people born before the twentieth century have been Magyarized. For example Jules Verne's name is often written as Verne Gyula, and has Hungarian pronunciation.
Outside Hungary, Hungarian names are usually rendered by the Western convention of other European languages.
A few given names are also used as family names, and this practice may confuse even a native Hungarian speaker. For example, in the unlikely case that a Hungarian speaker has never heard of Attila József, they would be unable to tell which of the two was his family name, because it could be either.
By law, children born as Hungarian citizens may bear no more than two surnames (most people have only one; those who have two may hyphenate them). They can also have only one or two given names (religious names not included, see below). Given names can be chosen by the parents from an official list of several thousand names (technically, one list for each gender).[1][2] If the intended name is not on the list, the parents need to apply for approval. Applications are considered by the Research Institute for Linguistics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences following a set of principles.[3] Thus, names are approved if they are not derogatory or overly diminutive, can be written and pronounced easily, can be recognised as either male or female, etc. Approved names expand the official list, the newest edition of which is regularly published. A lot of recent additions are foreign names, which, however, must be spelled following Hungarian phonetics, e.g. Jennifer becomes Dzsenifer or Joe becomes Dzsó.
Those who belong to an officially recognized minority in Hungary can also choose names from their own culture, whereby a register of given names maintained by the respective minority governance must be observed.
If one or both parents of a child to be named are foreign citizens, the given name(s) may be chosen in accordance with the respective foreign law.[4]
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Hungarians do not commonly use middle names (called second given names because of the Eastern name order) or their corresponding initials. While it is increasingly frequent that they are given one, they tend to choose one they prefer to use.
When baptised, a child can get an additional name (baptismal name), especially if there is no saint who bears their name so they need a name a patron saint is associated with. In confirmation, children receive another given name, but it is not used. Both the baptismal and the confirmation names have religious significance only, and they are not on any official records.
Modern Hungarian orthography is slightly simpler than that of the 18th and 19th centuries, but many Hungarians still use the older spelling for their names. For example, the letter 'c' is often written as 'cz'. Letters such as Q, W, X, or Y, which are usually only ever seen in foreign words, can also be seen in these older spellings of names, especially in old noble family names which stem from the Middle Ages. Some family names refer to a place of origin, and may be written ending in "Y" instead of "I". So someone from Szolnok may spell his family name "Szolnoky" instead of "Szolnoki", but only if the chosen Y variant of the family name is not a protected name of a historically documented noble family. Unless acknowledged officially, such spelling variants cannot be used as legal names. Except in special cases, to change one's name to any historical or old-style written name is not and will not be permitted.[5]
As in all cultures, the origin of Hungarian names is closely related to the religious and dynastic history of the country.
There is a wide range of selection of a married name. Up to about the 18th century noblewomen kept their names at marriage and their children received their father's name. (Poor people usually did not have a last name at all; 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. But most women did take their husbands' names; most of the exceptions were artists.
Nowadays the alternatives for a woman when she marries are as shown below (using the examples of Szendrey Júlia and Petőfi Sándor – Júlia and Sándor are their given names):
The applicable law,[6] 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:
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.
Both the bride and groom have to declare at the wedding which name they will use; and they have to declare which family name their children will get (which can be changed until the birth of the first child). Children can get either parent's surname, if it is on the marriage certificate, but all children must have the same surname. Since 2004 they can also get a hyphenated name, but only if both parents kept their birth names at least as one part of their new name. Children usually get their father's surname, but hyphenated names are becoming more common.
People of the same sex are not allowed to marry in Hungary, so they cannot legally use each other's names[7] unless they change their names through a deed of change of name.
When a woman takes her husband's name in the traditional way, as in Petőfi Sándorné, her female first name no longer forms part of her official name, yet this is the name she will be called by even after her wedding, in all but the most formal contexts. Thus, Hungarian radio speakers and others often resort to a compromise like Kovács Jánosné, Juli néni (Mrs. János Kovács, aunt Juli) to indicate how the woman should be called by others. (Néni and bácsi, "aunt" and "uncle", are traditional polite forms to address older people, and, for children, to address all adults; it does not indicate a family relationship.)
Some women who officially bear the -né form will nevertheless introduce themselves with their husband's family name and their own first name (in our example, Kovács Júlia or Kovácsné Júlia, rather than Kovács Jánosné), to avoid confusion about how to address them.
If the woman takes her husband's full name, the couple can easily be referred to in writing as Petőfi Sándor és neje (Sándor Petőfi and wife), equivalent to the English form "Mr. and Mrs. John Smith". This can be seen on older tombstones in Hungarian cemeteries.
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