Családnév és etnikai kategorizáció

Abstract

Surnames and ethnic categorization. The category of “Hungarian surname” in Hungary and in minority status The study investigates how lay ethnic categorization based on one’s surname works from theperspective of the prototype theory. The analysis is based on a questionnaire survey, in which 854Hungarian students took part from 21 universities in Hungary, Slovakia and Romania. Focus wasplaced on the evaluation of a list of surnames compiled based on several criteria. According toprevious results, the typical conditions for the category of HUNGARIAN SURNAME are the following:1. transparency, 2. spelling adjusted to Hungarian spelling standards, 3. typical Hungarianmorphological structure, 4. well-known Hungarian name bearers. In our present paper, weexamine several further aspects and types of surnames, such as name frequency, surnames of artificialor ethnonimic origin as well as surnames considered to be of Roma, German or Jewish origin.There are a number of substantial similarities in the categorization of the individual surnamesbelonging to name categories defined differently. There are some differences in categorizationcompleted by Hungarians who live in Hungary and those who live in neighbouring countries, butthere are more common features. However, there is no clear analogy between surnames and ethniccategories: the connections are quite complex and can be traced back to several causes; thus, relationsoften vary name by name.