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The Giving and Usage of First Names in Hungary

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The Giving and Usage of First Names in Hungary The Giving and Usage of First Names in Hungary Judit RAÁTZ Introduction ‘In onomastics we have to consider it as an axiom that each person used to be and is provided with a proper name of his own, an individual name.’ (Hajdú 2003: 153) Throughout history the new-born child has been given a name. The type and meaning of the name was determined by a nation’s conventions, religion as well as its body of beliefs preva- lent during the emergence of the community’s onomastic corpus. Whatever name-giving custom is under consideration, a common feature can be noticed: the primary function of personal name giving is to identify as well as to distinguish the new-born person. There are, however, some factors that differed from society to society: the way this distinction was made, the types of customs connected to name giving, the number of constituents comprising the name and how name giving was influenced and later regulated. In the present study the author wishes to demonstrate how— among the official personal names (family, given and marital names)— the customs of choosing given names in Hungary, how usage has been regulated and what factors have influenced the motives for name giving. The Beginnings of Name Giving (B.C. 1000-1894) The Period before the Appearance of Official Regulations The emergence of the Hungarian name system was determined by the name-giving customs characteristic of nomadic. Very little data is available on the name-giving customs of the ancient period of the Hungarian nation, called the Age of Migration. While the name giving of the Arpadian age (1000–1301), following the adoption of Chris- tianity, is demonstrated in several works (Berrár 1952, Hajdú 2003, Fehértói 2004), name-giving behaviour before the conquest (896 AD) Onoma 47 (2012), 13-34. doi: 10.2143/ONO.47.0.3085137. © Onoma. All rights reserved. 997898.indb7898.indb 1133 66/07/15/07/15 008:538:53 14 JUDIT RAÁTZ was derived from various sources and manuscripts at the disposal of scholars (Hajdú 2003). This system of names, reconstructed by schol- ars, reflects in each of its elements the significance of ancient symbols as well as the division of names according to gender principles. The name-giving customs of the Hungarian nation from the elev- enth to the fourteenth centuries were undoubtedly characterised by the single-constituent system of names. The name given at birth must have had some kind of reason behind it, and this name could be changed dur- ing the course of the person’s life. The changes of names could occur in any age group; nevertheless, name changing was the most typical among boys between the ages twelve and sixteen (Hajdú 2003: 348). Often a person bore both the name given at birth and the one given later together. The Period of Transition Religious names started to spread after the adoption of Christianity. As it was customary at that time, the usage of new names began mainly in the ruling circles. However, it was frequent even among them to have double name-usage: a person had both an ancient, pagan name and a Christian name (for instance, the pagan name of Saint Stephen was Vajk). Frequently a person bore both of his names at the same time (AbaSámuel). To promote the spread of Christian names, a decree of the Council of Buda in 1279 ordered in writing that only the priest should be allowed to give names to children (Galambos 1942: 3). The implementation of this rule, however, was not too fast, and the decree failed to regulate all name-giving behaviour in parishes across Hungary. The social position of the parents, their free choice as well as the tradition determined whether the child was given a pagan or Christian name. Name giving was heavily influenced by fam- ily traditions, social status as well as the appearance of martyrologies and calendars. The motivation for name giving altered decisively. The life and deeds of the chosen saint served as an example and also pre- destined the features of the new-born child. The spread of Christian name giving is proved by the fact that in the registers of the Árpád age, besides pagan and other names (the Slavic, German, French, Italian, Turkish, Greek, Hebrew names of migrating ethnical groups merged into the Hungarians), names taken from martyrologies can be found in large numbers. Male names deriving from saints include, for 997898.indb7898.indb 1144 66/07/15/07/15 008:538:53 THE GIVING AND USAGE OF FIRST NAMES IN HUNGARY 15 instance Pál,Péter,János,Miklós,Benedek,István,while some female ones are Erzsébet,Margit,Katalin,Anna,Máriaand Ágnes (Berrár 1952; Fehértói 2004). The Period of Ecclesiastical Registration The role of the church as well as that of the christening priest became more and more important in name giving. As a consequence, the Christian name giving had become predominant by the Middle Age of Hungarian language (1526–1772). The new-born child either inherited the name of one of its ancestors or was given the name of a saint or an ecclesiastical figure, who, in the calendar, was nearest to the date of its birth. It resulted in the predominance of a larger variety of male than female names. It is understandable as there were much more males in the martyrologies. After the Reformation in the sixteenth century, the names of the Old Testament (Ádám,Dániel;Éva,Eszter) also became fashionable. Name giving according to denomination in Hungary meant that Catholics chose New Testament names while Protestants selected ones from the Old Testament (Hajdú 2003). The choice and preference of first names was determined entirely according to denominational reasons. The decree of the diocese coun- cil of Veszprém called the priests’ attention to the significance of the recording of baptisms as early as 1515. The regular registration of births was ordered by Pope Pius IV during the Council of Trident. In the Catholic Church in Hungary the council of Nagyszombat, held at the beginning of the Counter-Reformation in 1611, ordered the keeping of registers of births, marriages and deaths. Sporadic registration had occurred here and there before this date, but the deci- sive change took place only in 1625, when Péter Pázmány, Archbishop of Esztergom made TheRitualeRomanum, issued by Pope Paul V, compulsory in the whole country, a part of which was the compulsory keeping of registers (Berkes 1999). The given names were recorded next to family names either in Hungarian or in Latin. Neither their orthography nor the possible number of names, however, was regu- lated by decree. The official regulation of names for many years only concerned the family name; the emergence of two-constituent names (family and Christian) appeared in the fourteenth century. Only during the follow- ing centuries, but particularly since the sixteenth, did two-constituent 997898.indb7898.indb 1155 66/07/15/07/15 008:538:53 16 JUDIT RAÁTZ names become the norm. By that time the usage of family names had become compulsory so that the state could check the various records and registers. In the Hungarian language—differently from the general practice of most other nations—the family name is always followed by the first name. The compulsory usage of family names was first ordered by Joseph II in his Name Decree issued on 23rd July 1787, so after January 1788 everybody had to bear two-constituent names, consisting of a fam- ily and given name. The regulation of name-bearing was carried on by Emperor and Hungarian King Francis I, who, between 1814 and 1817, issued several decrees regulating both family name-bearing and the changing of names. Nevertheless, there was no regulation concerning either the choice or bearing of first names (Farkas 2013). The Hungarian stock of first names, despite the fact that name- giving was not regulated by any restrictions, became more and more narrowed-down. By the end of the eighteenth century the stock of first names had become limited and dominated by the most frequently used male and female variants. Among the males almost every third person was called János or István, while many women bore the names of Erzsébet or Anna. 71,74% of the male population shared the first seven most frequently used names: János,István,Mihály,József, György,Ferenc,András, while for 75,3% of women only the follow- ing names were choosable:Erzsébet,Anna,Katalin,Zsuzsanna,Judit, Ilona,Borbála(Kálmán 1996: 49–51). In noble circles it became more and more common to give two, or sometimes even three or four first names to the children. The middle of the nineteenth century was marked by a decisive change in the Hungarian stock of first names. Influenced by romanti- cism, the enlargement of the onomastic corpus was done in two ways: on the one hand by the revival of old historical names (from the Árpád Age), and by the formation of names by writers and neologists on the other. Among the historical names those became popular which were connected to domestic social order and traditions. Such male names are, for instance, Zoltán,Béla,Géza,Kálmán,Árpád,Gyula,Zsolt,or among the female names Emőke,Bíborka,Boglárkaand Sarolta became the most fashionable ones. The then contemporary writers and poets, besides using the revived ancient names, provided their heroes with new name forms which later became widely used. The famous Hun- garian poet, János Arany, for instance, popularised the following names: 997898.indb7898.indb 1166 66/07/15/07/15 008:538:53 THE GIVING AND USAGE OF FIRST NAMES IN HUNGARY 17 Gyöngyvérand Ildikó.
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