Worldbuilding Wednesday 5/3/23: Hungarian Names

AI art of a good boi

Above is a portrait of the most recent of Hungary’s exports: the Vizsla, wearing a traditional peasant outfit courtesy of AI art. The speedy, good-natured hunting dog joins the rank of other notable exports like paprika, ghoulash, video pioneer Ernie Kovacs, and Gene Simmons (by way of Israel) to name a few.

Situated in Central Europe by Ukraine and Slovakia, Hungary seems like it should be Slavic, but it isn’t. For one thing, the Hungarian language belongs to the Finno-Ugric family, not Slavonic like Russian, Polish, and Czech. This language originated in Western Siberia and traveled with its speakers across northern Russia from the Ural Mountains to present-day Estonia and Finland.  It’s responsible for tongue-twisting Hungarian place names like Székesfehérvár and Hódmezővásárhely, and equally flamboyant personal names, like Bela Lugosi and Ibolya Verebics which sound very odd to Western ears.

Perhaps there will be a day when Hungarian-inspired settings will be as popular in fantasy as Russian ones are. Here’s a few names for then.

 

Hungarian Names

Female

Agneda

Elezsnóra

Ezsansá

Genellá

Imlisa

Jenia

Jenyszina

Lazolnya

Liszánsa

Liszit

Maralaya

Merleszna

Rolina

Senilla

Urszina

Vanalina

Vildrá

Zillima

Zsamana

Male

Abeszelar

Argizslaw

Deniszrylas

Erten

Grisart

Leszras

Lukund

Lutvany

Menszvany

Odelizsár

Ostzund

Rhóces

Seskar

Sigriszard

Tanzos

Vyjnan

Zesmian

Zleás

Zrajian

Surnames

Bajnera

Breznot

Cismora

Csutus

Csuzlej

Daejzec

Draklan

Gignjen

Hobruz

Kadloc

Mazop

Padek

Racsa

Surnmrelzen

Szisbys

Tukszl

Vejnás

Zsytez

Zujzevas

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