Kovács János, Nagy Erzsébet, and the like.

Let me start with the title of the post, which is a bit misleading.

The new generation has different given names

Hungary is probably the only Western country where the surname (family name) comes first, followed by a given name. So the the “first name” is not the first in Hungary,. It is referred as the “christian name” , even if the name was not given at a christening ceremony.

Perhaps it is unusual but highly practical in terms of alphabetical lists.

According to the database of Hungarian Home Office these are the 20 most common surnames.

SurnamesEnglish meaning
1NagyBig
2KovácsSmith
3TóthSlovak
4SzabóTaylor
5HorváthCroat
6VargaShoemaker
7KissSmall
8MolnárMiller
9NémethGerman
10FarkasWolf
11BaloghLeft handed
12PappPriest
13LakatosLocksmith
14TakácsWeaver
15JuhászShepherd
16OláhRomanian
17MészárosButcher
18SimonSimon
19RáczSerbian
20FeketeBlack

  Top 20 Hungarian given (christian) names:

MalesFemales
1.LászlóMária
2.IstvánErzsébet
3.JózsefKatalin
4.ZoltánÉva
5.JánosIlona
6.GáborAnna
7.SándorZsuzsanna
8.AttilaAndrea
9.FerencMargit
10.PéterJudit
11.TamásÁgnes
12.ZsoltIldikó
13.TiborErika
14.AndrásKrisztina
15.CsabaJulianna
16.ImreEszter
17.BalázsMónika
18.LajosIrén
19.GyörgyEdit
20.DávidSzilvia

So if you want to get typical Hungarian names they look like Kovács László, Szabó zoltán or Nagy Erzsébet, Tóth Mária.

However, it is changing.

The traditional given names are not popular any more, so the next generation will be called differently.

In 2019 these were the most popular given (christian) names for the new born babies.

MalesFemales
1.BenceHanna
2.MátéAnna
3.LeventeZoé
4.DominikLuca
5.MarcellLéna
6.NoelEmma
7.ÁdámZsófia
8.DánielLili
9.DávidBoglárka
10.OlivérMira
11.MilánLilien
12.ZalánNóra
13.BotondJázmin
14.BenettLaura
15.ZsomborMaja
16.BalázsSára
17.ÁronLara
18.PéterLilla
19.KristófIzabella
20.TamásGréta