ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2983 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2983 ************************************ 20 Jan 2005 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You asked if we could help construct an appropriate medieval Hungarian byname meaning 'son of Richard', and said that you believed that 'son of Ricza (Richard)' was correct. Here is the information we have found. We found no evidence that was borrowed into Hungarian before modern times. [1] While it is possible that a German immigrant named moved to a Hungarian town [4], we cannot speculate on what Hungarian byname his son might have had. In Latin, a son of Richard would have been recorded as . Names beginning with are rare in medieval Hungarian, but we have found some; they are listed below. (The slash in some of them stands for an acute accent over the preceding letter.) All but the last are masculine names, and all can be used as surnames. Note, though, that these are modern spellings; we'll be happy to try to find period spellings for any that interest you. [2,3] Ra/d, Ra/da, Rado/ (from Slavic ) Rados (an old secular personal name) Ramocsa (an old secular personal name) Ra/told (from German ) Ra/zma/n, Ra/zso/ (from German ) Re/de (an old secular personal name) Remek, Remes (from Latin ) Roki (probably a diminutive of Ro/kus, an old ecclesiastic personal name) Roland, 1437, 1476 Roma, Roma/n, Romo/ (from Latin ) Rosko (from Rumanian ) Ro/zsa (from feminine ) 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 or if you have further questions. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Kolosvari Arpadne Julia, Walraven van Nijmegen, Juetta Copin, Talan Gwynek, Arval Benicoeur, and Gunnvor silfraharr. For the Academy, -Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 20 Jan 2005 -- References: [1] A modern "name your baby" website lists and as modern Hungarian names. We have not found evidence for either of these in Hungary before modern times. http://www.behindthename.com/nmc/hun2.html [2] Ka/zme/r Miklo/s, "Re/gi Magyar Csala/dnevek Szo/ta/ra: XIV-XVII Sza/zad" (Budapest, 1993). [3] A 'secular' name is one that has its roots in Hungarian or a Turkic language; an 'ecclesiastic' name is one that was adopted after the conversion of Hungary to Christianity. [4] We found examples of and other variants in various parts of Germany from the 13th century onwards. [5,6,7] [5] Brechenmacher, Josef Karlmann, _Etymologisches Woerterbuch der deutschen Familiennamen_ (Limburg a. d. Lahn, C. A. Starke-Verlag, 1957-1960). s.nn. Richard, Richardi, Richards, Reichert [6] Zoder, R., _Familiennamen in Ostfalen_. 2 vols. (Hildesheim: 1968). p. 32 has 1433; 1442 [7] Engel, Franz, _Die Mecklenburgischen Kaiserbederegister von 1496_, Mitteldeutsche Forschungen 56 (Koeln: Boehlau Verlag, 1968). p. 258 1496.