ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2956 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2956 ************************************ 23 Nov 2004 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You wanted to know if 'Ilona, daughter of Maria' is an appropriate name for a Hungarian woman living between 1450 and 1600. Here is the information we have found. was a very popular name in the 16th century. We found a number of examples: [1] Ilona 1537, 1559, 1564, 1568, 1579, 1585, 1586, 1587, 1590 1592, 1594 Jlona 1568, 1570, 1595, 1597 Yllona 1570 Ilko 1572 (this is a diminutive) We did not find any examples from before 1500, but this is likely a result of our scarce data for Hungarian feminine names before the 16th century. Given how popular was in the 16th century, we believe it is plausible for the latter half of the 15th century as well. In Latin, this name might have been recorded as or, less commonly, . [1,6] Matronymic bynames, which identify the bearer by his or her mother's given name, were never common in Hungarian, and we have not found examples before the 15th century. [1,3] We did, however, find examples of matronymics based on both and its pet form : in 1497, 1525, 1559, (with no given name listed) 1551, and in 1570. [2] Hungarian often formed bynames like these, using just the parent's name without the addition of any suffixes. All of the examples we've seen of matronymic bynames use this pattern. The examples above come from sources written in Latin, which puts the given name before the byname. In Hungarian, the byname always precedes the given name. [6] Based on this, we can recommend as a fine name meaning 'Ilona daughter of Mariska'. In Latin, this might have been recorded as . Both and would have been pronounced roughly \MAW-reesh-kah EE-loa-naw\, with \oa\ as in . [4] We hope that this letter has been useful to you and that you won't hesitate to write us again if any part was unclear to you or you have further questions. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Koloswary Arpadne Julia, Talan Gwynek, Arval Benicoeur, Walraven van Nijmegen, and Juetta Copin. For the Academy, -Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 23 November 2004 -- References: [1] Walraven van Nijmegen, "Hungarian Names 101" (WWW: Brian R. Speer, Privately published, 1998). http://www.geocities.com/Athens/1336/magyarnames101.html [2] Ka/zme/r Miklo/s, "Re/gi Magyar Csala/dnevek Szo/ta/ra: XIV-XVII Sza/zad" (Budapest, 1993). p. 708 s.nn. Ma/ria Mariska [3] Ka/zme/r, op. cit., s.n. A/gota [4] A more precise pronunciation can be represented in Kirshenbaum ASCII IPA: ['mA.riSkA. 'ilonA.]. [5] [5] Blaheta, Don, "Representation of IPA with ASCII" (WWW: Blahedo.org) http://www.blahedo.org/ascii-ipa.html [6] Kolosvari Arpadne Julia, "And the Last Shall be First" Known World Heraldic Symposium Proceedings, (New Cumberland, PA: 2004), p. 21.