The most popular Hungarian female names

Birth names are characteristic and often unique in their sound and their meaning, and even though some of them are quite common, a person can really make it their own. Let us take a look at the most frequent Hungarian girls’ names and what they mean.

In a previous post, we presented some of the most popular male names and how they are related to history, so now it is time to cover girls’ names.

There is a difference between the most common names in circulation and between the most frequently given names to babies. Considering the first category, the most common names in 2017 in Hungary were Mária, Erzsébet, Katalin, Éva, Ilona, Anna, Zsuzsanna, Margit, Judit and Ágnes. Even though there were many important women in Hungarian history bearing either of these names, none of these are of Hungarian roots. For example, King Matthias Corvinus’s mother, Erzsébet Szilágyi, the Hungarian people’s favourite queen, Sisi were both important Elisabeths.

The most popular names given to babies in Hungary in 2017 were Hanna, Anna, Zoé, Luca, Emma, Zsófia, Jázmin, Nóra, Boglárka and Léna.

However, there is only one name in the top ten with Hungarian roots: Boglárka.

Boglárka was the ninth most popular name given to girls in 2017, and considering how many people are named Boglárka, it ranks 58th. This women’s name was derived from the flower buttercup not long ago, which in Hungarian is boglárka.

Lilla is a name that has roots in literature, and quite romantic at that: an established Hungarian poet, Mihály Csokonai Vitéz, referred to his muse, Julianna Vajda as Lilla, even though it is said that Lilla is the nickname used for Lívia and Lídia. Lilla was the 19th most frequently given name to babies in 2017.