Hungarian Name Days

Hungary is a country in Central of Europe. It is located in the north of Croatia. the north of Hungary is Slovak. It is between Romania and Austria in the east and west one. The capital city of Hungary is Budapest. This central European country is a left country in Europe. The population is about 9,880,059 (growth rate : -0.2%). Most of ethnics in Hungary are Hungarian 89.9%, Roma 4%, German 2.6%, Serb 2%, Slovak 0.8%, Romanian 0.7% and etc. They are keeping their culture. It has a bit eastern cultures like as the family is the centre of the social culture. The culture is influenced by Rome. So that, most of Hungarians are Christians they believe in Saints and celebrate name days as an honor of Saint day.

Name days are the custom of several countries based on Catholic and Orthodox calendar of Saints. We can find this custom in many countries in Central and Eastern of Europe. Those countries are Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Republic of Macedonia, Romania, Russia, Scandinavia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and Ukraine. The believers are given a certain name with a particular day of the year. The believers would celebrate that saint’s feast day. The calendar of name days might be different in some countries to another country. For example, The Polish celebrate the 10th of April as a Name Day for the name Daniel. The German government has designated July 21st as an official Name Day for the baby name Daniel. The name Daniel is celebrated as a Name Day on the 11th of December in Sweden. The baby name Daniel is honored as a Name Day on the 17th of December in Czech Republic. In Hungary, Name day of Daniel is July 21st. What the writer want to explain more is about name day in Hungary.

Hungarians not only have birthday but also name days as well. Name days (in Hungarian: névnap) are very popular in this country. Birthdays are usually celebrated just in immediate family. Name days are widely known and celebrated in Hungary than birthdays. They are special days celebrated on a day for particular names. Hungarians often celebrate name days in workplaces, school or at home.

There are several ways which Hungarians use for celebrating name days. A woman is typically given flowers, small gift or dessert as a present on her name day by her relations, friends or colleagues. Children commonly bring sweets or candies to school to celebrate their name days. A man frequently is given a bottle of alcohol as a common gift. They may also get a name day card from their acquaintances as a gift. They give the name day gift by saying “Boldog Névnapot! Happy Name Day!”.

The rules of giving name day for Hungarians’ child are simple. The person chooses on which day he or she wishes to celebrate. The list of name days is based on the traditional Catholic saint’s feasts, but now the link of the secular name days calendar to the Catholic calendar is not maintained anymore. It means that there is no longer any specific connection to Christianity. Hungarian parents must choose a first name from name days list to their child. The first name of someone is assigned based on religious traditions, historical events, birthday of famous person who had the same first name or the other facts. For example, Tamás Inczédy was born on the 9th of July, but his name day is on the 7th of March. So that, name days and birthdays are different.

Related to Hungarian name days, there are some interesting facts about Hungarian’s name. The first name of Hungarians is at the back and the fore name is in the back. For example, “Feleki Gáspár (surname: Feleki, forename: Gáspár) but if this man goes to the USA, he uses his name as: Gáspár Feleki. His friends can call him Gáspár, but his boss calls him Mr. Feleki”.

The second interesting fact is that the name of woman can be confusing to be fitted by Hungarian custom. When a women would be a bride, she has a chance to choose three possibilities. They are;

1. She may keep her maiden name after her marriage. e.g. Szabó Eszter

2. She may adopt her husband’s family name followed by her maiden name. e.g. Kovács-Szabó Eszter

3. She may use her husband’s family name followed by her own given name. e.g. Kovács Eszter

4. She may use her husband’s name with a -né suffix (Mrs.) at the end followed by her maiden name. e.g. Kovácsné Szabó Eszter or Kovács Jánosné Szabó Eszter

5. By the old Hungarian custom, the bride adopted the entire name of her groom with a -né suffix at the end. Her given name was thus disguised by her official name e.g. Kovács Jánosné . Read the list of name-days in the calendar.