How Hungarian surnames were formed. The meaning of the most common surnames in Russia and Ukraine

Hungarians, or Magyars, as they call themselves, are settled around the world. In addition to their country, entire Hungarian settlements exist in Western Ukraine (in Transcarpathia), Poland, Romania, and Slovakia. Many Hungarians moved to a permanent residence overseas - in the United States and Canada. About 4 thousand inhabitants of Russia consider themselves ethnic Hungarians. Historical events mixed Magyars with other nationalities, and often those who bear Hungarian surnames do not even suspect their attitude to this nationality.

History in last name

Another name for this people is Ugrians. Researchers believe that the eastern regions of the Urals, from where they moved to warmer places, crossed the Carpathians and found their homeland in the Middle Urals basin, are the homeland of the nomad Onugr tribe.

The Hungarian state was formed at the beginning of the 11th century. Representatives of other nationalities often settled on the ethnic territory of the Magyars, close to each other on religious beliefs, entered into marriages and mixed with the indigenous population. A long stay in the Austro-Hungarian state led to the formation of Austro-Hungarian surnames.

Hungarian language and surnames: history

Despite the close surroundings of the linguistic clans of the Slavic and Romano-Germanic groups, the Finno-Ugric language family stands apart. This fact also explains the peculiar approach to the formation of names and surnames. Until the beginning of the 13th century, Hungarian surnames did not exist at all (this is characteristic of many Slavic peoples). Despite the estate, only a name was used to indicate a person’s personality.

Hungarian surnames come before the name, as a qualifying adjective. The double identification of the person initially spread only among the aristocracy, among the nobles, a little later - among the townspeople. The landless poor peasants remained nameless for a long time, until in the 18th century they adopted the royal law, obliging everyone to bear their first and last name.

Hungarian last names: origin

The lexical groups of origin of the names of Hungarians have several sources.

• The most common group is made up of surnames formed from a profession, occupation, craft or position: Molnar (miller), Ach (carpenter), Popes (priest), Kovacs (blacksmith), Rakosh (the direct meaning of “cancer”, so called the fisherman) .
• Converted names of fathers became just as common. This education has also become popular for the reason that it is not customary to attach a middle name to the name of the Hungarians. A father’s name as a surname often has no ending: Peter Sandor and Sandor Peter are completely different people. To clarify who we are talking about, in documents, questionnaires, lists there is a column in which the mother's maiden name is indicated. Sometimes, father (s) is joined to his father’s name, as a sign of “whose” - Miklosi. Another option is to add the word “son” (“phi”): Peterfi, Mantorfi.
• Many Hungarian surnames formed from the place of birth. The names of villages, cities, family castles in direct form or with a suffix –i: Kalo, Pato, Debreceni, Tordai.
• A rather large group of surnames was formed from the names of nationalities and nationalities: Thoth (Serb), Horvat (Croatian), Nemeth (German), Olah (Romanian), etc.
• Small, but no less common among Hungarians surnames related to the designation of internal or external characteristics of a person: Nagi (large), Boldog (happy).

Women's last names

The transformation of female names during marriage is very unusual. Female Hungarian surnames and names are the full name of her husband with the addition of the ending “us”. So, the wife of Androsh Kovac will be called Androshny Kovac. To avoid confusion, a law has been passed under which modern women have the right to choose. They can attach the ending to the surname (Kovachny), they can keep the maiden name and surname, they can wear a double version: the maiden plus the husband. But, as statistics show, traditions are so strong that many girls are “renamed” in an old-fashioned way in marriage, which introduces certain misunderstandings among uninitiated foreigners.

"Our Hungarians"

Many residents of Ukraine and Russia do not consider themselves ethnic Magyars, nevertheless they have Hungarian surnames inherited from their ancestors. The list of the most common surnames of Hungarian origin in our country is as follows.

1. Kovacs is a blacksmith.
2. Molnar is a miller.
3. Horvat is a Croat.
4. Varga is a shoemaker.
5. But the big one.
6. Kish is small.
7. Sabo is a tailor.
8. Farkash is a wolf.
9. That (a) is a Slovak.
10. Balog is left-handed.