Hungarian Names - Married Names

Married Names

There is a wide range of selection of a married name. Up to about the 18th century noblewomen kept their names at marriage and their children received their father's name. (Poor people usually did not have a last name at all; it became compulsory only under the reign of Joseph II). When Hungary was under Habsburg rule and became influenced by Western European traditions, women became known by their husbands' names. So for example Szendrey Júlia, marrying Petőfi Sándor, became Petőfi Sándorné (the -né suffix approximately means "wife of", and this is the Hungarian equivalent of "Mrs." as in "Mrs. John Smith"). This was both the law and the tradition until the 1950s. During the Communist rule of Hungary, great emphasis was put upon the equality of women and men, and from that time women could either choose to keep their maiden name or take that of their husband. But most women did take their husbands' names; most of the exceptions were artists.

Nowadays the alternatives for a woman when she marries are as shown below (using the examples of Szendrey Júlia and Petőfi Sándor – Júlia and Sándor are their given names):

• Júlia can keep her maiden name, as Szendrey Júlia (now very popular, especially among more-educated women).
• Júlia gives up her name, adds the suffix -né to her husband's full name, and will be called Petőfi Sándorné.
• Júlia adds the suffix -né to her husband's family name, adds her full name and will be called Petőfiné Szendrey Júlia.
• Júlia adds the suffix -né to her husband's full name, adds her full name and will be called Petőfi Sándorné Szendrey Júlia (less popular these days, because it is long to write).
• Júlia takes her husband's family name, keeps her given name "Júlia" and will be called Petőfi Júlia.

The applicable law, which used to give substantially different sets of options to women and men, was declared sexist and unconstitutional. The ensuing amendment, in force since 2004, also lists options for men. Thus:

• Sándor can keep his birth name, as Petőfi Sándor (the most common choice).
• Sándor takes his wife's family name, keeps his given name "Sándor" and will be called Szendrey Sándor (often considered when the wife's family name sounds remarkably better than the husband's one).

• A further new option is hyphenation. In our example, the family name Petőfi-Szendrey or Szendrey-Petőfi will be introduced for one or both parties. A sole party not assuming the hyphenated form keeps his or her original family name.

Note that using opposing hyphenations (i.e. Szendrey-Petőfi Sándor and Petőfi-Szendrey Júlia) and exchanging names (i.e. Petőfi Sándor and Szendrey Júlia become Szendrey Sándor and Petőfi Júlia) are not allowed. Also, one can have a maximum of two last names. If one or both partners-to-be come to the marriage with more than one surname, they will have to agree which ones to keep.

Both the bride and groom have to declare at the wedding which name they will use; and they have to declare which family name their children will get (which can be changed until the birth of the first child). Children can get either parent's surname, if it is on the marriage certificate, but all children must have the same surname. Since 2004 they can also get a hyphenated name, but only if both parents kept their birth names at least as one part of their new name. Children usually get their father's surname, but hyphenated names are becoming more common.

People of the same sex are not allowed to marry in Hungary, so they cannot legally use each other's names unless they change their names through a deed of change of name.