A primer on Hungarian names

In the spring of 1995, I developed a love of all things Hungarian when I read Aranka Siegal’s memoirs Upon the Head of the Goat and Grace in the Wilderness, and the most haunting book I’ve ever read, Isabella: From Auschwitz to Freedom. The late Isabella Leitner’s memoirs were originally published in two volumes, which are even more haunting, Fragments of Isabella and Saving the Fragments. A number of meaningful, powerful passages and lines were left out of the updated, combined volume.

It therefore stood to reason that some of my Shoah characters would be Hungarian as well: Eszter Kovács (later Kovács-Gerber) and her sisters Mirjam and Sára, Jákob Gerber, Csilla Bergman, Aranka Rubin, Klaudia Buchsbaum, Kálmán Rein, and Móric Heyman. There’s also Pali Weiss of my Atlantic City books, who comes to America by way of Switzerland in 1942 and eventually marries dear little Malchen (Amalia) von Hinderburg. I also added the Laurel-Esterházy family in 1963, several of whom marry into Cinnimin’s family and some of the other main families.

Partly as an excuse to use Hungarian names, partly because I’ve always been haunted by how late into the war Hungarian Jewry was decimated. Hungary was invaded 19 March 1944, and the deportations (except for Budapest, where the odds for survival were somewhat improved) began in late April and lasted till July. At least those few extra years gave some young people the chance to be old enough to survive.

I use accent marks (whenever I know their placement) for my Russian names and words, even though normally they’re not written outside of dictionaries and instructional volumes. It’s to give non-Russians and non-Russophiles a pronunciation guide. Not so with Hungarian. Accent marks in names and words are always written out, no matter where they are.

I quickly caught on to the fact that most Hungarian nicknames seem to end in an I. A number of nicknames additionally end in -csi, -ka, or -iska. In Hungarian, CS is its own sound and pronounced like CH. For example, Csilla is pronounced Cheela. SZ is pronounced kind of like a Z. A C alone is pronounced like the TS sound in Tsar. And of course, As and Is are always long. I cringe when I hear Anglo manglings of Eastern European names, even knowing it’s usually unintentional.

Here are some common Hungarian names and their nickname forms and English equivalents (when not immediately discernable), courtesy of a wonderful Hungarian names site that is now only accessible through archive.org. This is by no means an exhaustive list, just some of the more popular/traditional names.

Ábel—Ábi, Ábika

Ádám—Adi

Ágoston, Gusztáv—Guszti, Gusztika

Álajos (Aloysius)—Ali, Alika, LOjás

Álmos—Álmi, Álmoska

Ambrus—Ambris, Ambriska

András (Andrew)—Bandi, Andriska, Bandika, Andris, Endre

Antal (Anthony)—Toni

Árpád—Árpi, Árpika

Balázs (Blaise)—Balázska

Béla—Bélus, Béluska

Bernát—Berni, Berci, Berkó

Csongor—Csongi, Csoni, Csonika

Dániel—Dani, Dán, Dancsa, Danscó, Dacó, Dascó

Dávid—Dávidka

Dénes—Déni, Déneske

Dezső (Desiderius, and don’t ask me how to pronounce the slanty umlaut!)—Dezsőke

Ede (Edward)—Edi, Eduska

Elek (Alexis, a name I still consider male)—Lekcsi

Farkas (Wolf)—Farcsi, Farko

Fábián—Fábi, Fabó

Ferenc (Francis)—Feri, Ferko, Ferike

Frigyes (Frederick)—Frici

Fülöp (Philip)—Fülöpke

Gábor, Gábriel—Gabi, Gabika

Gáspár (Casper)—Gáspárka, Gazsi

Gergely (Gregory)—Gergö, Gerö

Géza—Gézus

György—Gyuri, Gyurika

Henrik—Hencsi, Heni, Henrike

Imre (Emery)—Imrus, Imi, Imruska

István (Steven)—Pista, Pisti, Pityu, Pistika, Pityuka

János—Jani, Jancsi, Janika, Jancsika

József—Jóska, Józsi, Józsika, Jóci, Jóka

Kálmán—Kálcsi, Kálmus, Kálmuska, Kálmánka

Károly (Charles)—Karcsi, Karcsika, Károlyka

Lájos (Louis)—Lajcsi, Lali, Lajcsika

László (Leslie)—Laci, Lacika, Lackó, Lala

Mihály (Michael)—Misa, Misi, Miska, Misika

Miklós (Nicholas)—Miki, Miklóska

Nándor (Ferdinand)—Nándi, Nándika

Pál (Paul)—Pali, Palcsi, Palika, Palcsika

Péter—Peti, Petike

Sándor (Alexander)—Sanyi, Elek, Dodi

Szabolcs—Szabi, Szabika

Tivadar (Theodore)—Tibi, Tibike

Vilmos (William)—Vili, Vilike, Vilmoska

Zoltán—Zoli, Zolike

Agáta—Ági, Ágika

Amália, Amélia—Ama, Amácska, Amál, Amálika, Amálka

Anna—Aniko, Panni, Anika, Ancsa, Annus, Annuska

Aranka (Aurelia)—Ari, Arany

Cecília—Cili, Cica, Cicu

Csilla—Csicsi, Csili, Csilika, Csiluska

Dorottya—Dóra, Dóri, Dorika

Emese, Emma, Emilia—Emi, Eme, Emike, Emika

Erzsébet (Elizabeth)—Erzsi, Bözsi, Erzsika, Bözsike

Eszter—Eszti, Esztike

Éva—Évi, Vice, Évike

Franciska—Franci

Gizella—Gizi

Gyöngyi (Pearl)—Gyöci, Gyöngyike

Hajnalka (Dawn, Aurora)—Hajnal, Hajnika

Ibolya (Violet)—Ibi, Iboya, Ibolyka

Ilona (Helen)—Ilonka, Ica, Ilus, Cilka, Ilke, Ili

Jácinta—Cinta, Cinti, Jáci, Cintus, Cintuska, Cintácska

Jolán (Yolanda)—Joli, Jolénka

Júlia, Julianna—Julcsa, Julsi, Juli, Juliska

Katalin—Kato, Kata, Katinka, Kati, Katica, Katika

Lidia—Lica, Lici, Licu, Licácska, Licike, Licuka, Licus

Magda, Magdaléna, Magdolna—Magdi, Magdus, Magdika, Duci

Margit, Margaréta—Manci, Maca, Margitka

Mária—Manci, Maris, Mari, Mara, Marika, Ria, Rica, Mariska, Marica, Rika

Orsolya (Ursula)—Orsi, Orsika

Piroska (Priscilla)—Piri, Pici, Pircsi

Róza, Rozália—Rózsika, Rózika, Rózi

Sára, Sarolt, Sarolta—Sári, Sárika

Terézia, Teréz, Tessza—Teca, Teri, Terike, Teszi, Teszike

Valéria—Vali, Valika, Valérke

Viktoria—Vica, Viki, Vicus, Viktus, Viktorka

Zoltána—Zolcsi, Zolcsika

Zsuzsanna—Zsuzsi, Zsuzsa, Zsuzsika

Obviously there are a plethora of other Hungarian names, many of which I’ve used for my characters and their friends and family (Klaudia, Olivér, Cipora, Ráhel, Stella, Brúnó, Emánuel, Aladár, Xénia, Beatrix, et al). This is just intended as a little taste of what the world of Hungarian onomastics has to offer.