Anthroponymy as an indicator of multiculturalism. Case study: the Latin-Catholic gymnasium in Bistriţa (1729–1779)

Abstract

This paper dwells on the first names of Romanian students who attended the Latin-Catholic gymnasium in Bistriţa between the years 1729 and 1779. The onomastic data were collected from the records published by Virgil Şotropa in the newspaper Tribuna (1901, year XXXII, issues 1: 3 sqq.) and reprinted in the journal Arhiva Someşană (1940, issue 48: 47–63). The research does not deal with family names, as these are almost always replaced with the names of the students’ settlement or area of origin: Besenyö, Bistriciensis, Budatelek, Burgoiensis, Crajoviensis, Dobociensis, Kaczkiensis, Kajla, Nagy-Banya, Naszod, Naszodiensis, Radnensis, Somkuta, Tohatiensis, Tordensis, Transilvanus etc. The names analysed attest to the multicultural nature of anthroponymy since the early days of the existence of Confessional Records, Land Registries, Students’ Records etc.