Hungarian Jewish surnames are those used by Jews from Hungary, and the neighboring regions under Hungarian influence, like Transylvania and Vojvodina, as well as diasporic communities in the USA, the UK, Argentina, and Israel. The earliest reports of Jewish presence in Hungarian lands predate the Hungarian conquest of the Pannonian Basin in 895 CE by over 600 years.
In addition to the organized Jewish communities in the medieval Kingdom of Hungary, it is believed that a number of the heterogeneous Hungarian tribes practiced Judaism. From the 1800s until World War II, Hungarian Jews became increasingly assimilated, becoming the Jewish community with the largest number of people ascending to nobility. The first lower nobility titles were granted in 1849, and the first Baron title was given in 1886 to Zsigmond Schossberger, who was made Baron Schossberger von Tornyai.[1][2]
History of Hungarian Jewish Surnames
Most Hungarian Jews did not have family names before 1783. However, a few surnames were recorded for Jewish families as time passed by, such as:
Due to the more restrictive anti-Jewish policies in other parts of the Habsburg Monarchy, as well as the economic development of Hungary, many Jews from other parts of the empire migrated into Hungarian lands in the early 1800s, bringing a significant amount of non-Hungarian-speaking migrants wishing to succeed in the Kingdom. Partially as a response to this influx of foreigners, as well as following the establishment of ethnic minority rights based on individuals, between 1840 and 1849, the first wave of Magyarization of surnames for non-Hungarians took place.
After the Hungarian Revolution in 1848, this process was stopped until the establishment of the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary in 1867, when many more Jews changed their family names from German to Hungarian, a process that occurred both voluntarily and as a result of social pressure since Hungarian was the only language allowed to be used in civil administration, legal proceedings, and higher education. As most Jews were urban in Hungary, a majority of the middle-class Jews changed their surnames to more Hungarian-sounding ones and started to use only Hungarian as a medium of communication in search of social mobility.[3]
Some Jews with German-sounding and Yiddish-sounding names translated them directly into Hungarian. For example, Gross became Nagy, Lieberman became Lelkes, and Wolf became Farkas. Others simply made new versions of their original surnames into Hungarian forms, like Vázsonyi (Weiszfeld), Krón (Krön), Vámbéry (Bamberger), Rudas (Roth, Reichenthal), and Kovács (Kohn). A minority, usually the most religious ones, retained their original surnames, adapting them to the Hungarian language spelling rules, like Szmelzer, Herczel, Megyer, Szamuely, and Weisz.[4][5] It is estimated that between 1894 and 1918 only, nearly 60% of the surname changes we requested by Jews.[6]
One interesting fact is that the two most devoted promoters of Magyarization, Simon Telkes and Zoltán Lengyel, who established non-governmental organizations and wrote extensively about the benefits of Magyarization, were themselves, Jews.[7]
Hungarian Jewish naming conventions
In the Hungarian language, names are given similarly to those given in East Asia: the surname follows the given name. As with the rest of the Hungarians, under the reign of Joseph II, it became mandatory to have a surname, with women keeping their surnames and children inheriting their father's surname only. Later, after the establishment of Austria-Hungary, women became known by their husbands' full names, by adding the -né suffix. During the Communist rule of Hungary, women could either choose to keep their maiden name or take their husband's surname. Nowadays, this is also possible for men, as well as creating a new surname by hyphenating both surnames or the traditional option in which the wife takes her husband's full name.[8]
Hungarian Jewish surnames of occupational origin
Hungarian Jewish surnames that are associated with an occupation are relatively common, taking more than a third of the Hungarian Jewish surnames, and they take varied forms such as:
Hungarian Jewish surnames of toponymic origin
Hungarian Jewish Surnames that refer to a place end have two possible endings: -i or -y, both of which mean "from" or "of" a place and are pronounced the same way. The -y ending is incorrectly believed to indicate noble origin. In reality, the -y ending is an older spelling, and older records were more likely to reference individuals of higher rank and wealth.
Some Hungarian Jewish names also indicate the city or country of origin without the suffixes mentioned above, such as:
Hungarian Jewish surnames of descriptive origin
A significant number of Hungarian Jewish surnames can be related to either a physical characteristic, a personality aspect, or an animal associated with certain traits, such as:
Hungarian Jewish surnames based on given names
Hebraization of Hungarian Jewish surnames
See also: Hebraization of Jewish surnames
Upon emigration to Israel, some Hungarian Jews did Hebraize their surnames following a similar pattern used during Magyarization, for example:
- Lempel became Lapid
- Grószberger became Atzmon
- Friedländer became Keren
- Hoffmann became Kishon
- Herskó became Hershko
- Neumann became Neeman
Celebrities of Hungarian Jewish origin
- Sári Zsuzsanna "Zsa Zsa" Gábor, Hungarian-American socialite and Hollywood actress
- Judit Polgár, the Hungarian chess grandmaster, is considered the strongest female chess player of all time.
- Ágnes Keleti, Hungarian-Israeli Olympic gymnast, and coach, winner of 10 Olympic medals.
- Theodor "Teddy" Kollek, was an Israeli politician who served as the mayor of Jerusalem from 1965 to 1993.
- Erich Weisz, known as "Harry Houdini", American escape artist, magic man, and stunt performer noted for his escape acts.
Explore more about Hungarian Jewish surnames
- Last names on MyHeritage
- Historical records from Israel on MyHeritage
- Historical records from Hungary on MyHeritage
- Hungary’s Secret: New Study by MyHeritage Reveals that Hungary Has the World’s Second Largest Percentage of Population with Jewish Ancestry on MyHeritage Blog
References
- ↑ Jewish Nobility in Hungary. The Reform Advocate, 1913
- ↑ Baron Sigmund, Baron Schossberger de Tornyai. Geni
- ↑ Laczó, Ferenc. Jewish Questions and the contested nation: On major Hungarian debates of the Nineteenth Century. Journal of Modern Jewish Studies, 14725886, November 2014, Vol. 13, Issue 3
- ↑ 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."
- ↑ Otčenášová, Slávka; Zahorán, Csaba; Erdélyi, Mátyás. Name magyarization and Hungarianness: The reception of magyarized names in the dualist period (1867-1919). Terra Recognita Foundation, 2015, ISBN 978-963-89185-4-3
- ↑ Hebrew, Yiddish, German, and Hungarian Name changes
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Farkas, Tamás. Jewish Surname Changes in Hungary (19th–20th century). York University, 2009
- ↑ Hungarian Culture: Naming